Afghanistan Peace Talks Notably Exclude Afghanistan

Taliban political chief Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, center, walks in a hall as he attends the “intra-Afghan” talks in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019. The U.S. has promised to withdraw half of its troops from Afghanistan by the end of April, a Taliban official said Wednesday, but the U.S. military said it has received no orders to begin packing up.
Taliban political chief Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, center, walks in a hall as he attends the "intra-Afghan" talks in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019. The U.S. has promised to withdraw half of its troops from Afghanistan by the end of April, a Taliban official said Wednesday, but the U.S. military said it has received no orders to begin packing up. Pavel Golovkin / WBEZ
Taliban political chief Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, center, walks in a hall as he attends the “intra-Afghan” talks in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019. The U.S. has promised to withdraw half of its troops from Afghanistan by the end of April, a Taliban official said Wednesday, but the U.S. military said it has received no orders to begin packing up.
Taliban political chief Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, center, walks in a hall as he attends the "intra-Afghan" talks in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019. The U.S. has promised to withdraw half of its troops from Afghanistan by the end of April, a Taliban official said Wednesday, but the U.S. military said it has received no orders to begin packing up. Pavel Golovkin / WBEZ

Afghanistan Peace Talks Notably Exclude Afghanistan

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Representatives of the Taliban and other groups in Afghanistan met this week in Moscow to discuss a path for peace in the country after a war that’s lasted for decades. Notably, neither representatives of the U.S., which has maintained a presence in the country since its initial invasion in 2001, nor representatives of the current Afghan government, were present. Many of the negotiating parties expressed the belief the Afghan government is a puppet regime. The groups agreed, in principle, to a nine-point agreement calling for “peace, stability and an Afghanistan free of foreign forces.” Joins us to hear from Anatol Lieven, professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar, on what we can expect from this agreement and where developments in Afghanistan go from here.