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1 1 (October 16, 2018)

handle is hein.crs/govciwx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: * Conqrcissioa flasearch Service Momentum Toward Peace Talks in Afghanistan? Updated October 16, 2018 Developments in Afghanistan since February 2018, including a potential change in the U.S. stance toward direct talks with the Taliban, have increased the prospects for a negotiated end to the conflict there. In August 2017, President Frump said, Someday, after an effective military effort, perhaps it will be possible to have a political settlement that includes elements of the Taliban in Afghanistan, but nobody knows if or when that will ever happen. In the following months, American military operations intensified, with the number of U.S. troops in the country rising to about 15,000. A flurry of recent official visits to the region signal a possible new emphasis on efforts to settle the war. Many continue to describe the conflict as stalemated. Reports that President Trump (who acknowledged that my original instinct was to pull out) has expressed his frustration with the war and is desperate to see its end are a commonly cited explanation for this new push. A grassroots Afghan initiative, which originated in March 2018 in the southern province of Helmand as a protest calling on both sides to lay down arms, spread throughout the county and culminated in a march to Kabul in June, raising expectations for peace talks. Afghan Government Negotiations with the Taliban For years, the United States and many regional states have maintained that the peace process must be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned. In June 2017, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani launched the Kabul Process, an Afghan-managed multilateral forum to secure international support for peace in Afghanistan; the Taliban, who reject the legitimacy of the Kabul government, have not participated. At the second meeting of the Kabul Process in February 2018, Ghani made a peace offer to the Taliban that included recognition of the group as a political party and direct negotiations without preconditions in what was seen as an unprecedented development. The Taliban never responded to the offer directly, and announced their annual spring offensive in April 2018. U.S. officials, including Secretary of Defense James Mattis, maintain that there are elements of the Taliban clearly interested in talking to the Afghan government. However, outside analysts, citing interviews with Taliban fighters, report that the group's members think that ousting foreign troops by force is the most realistic strategy and that the Taliban rank and file are not enthusiastic about peace talks. In May 2018, General Nicholson said that a lot of the diplomatic activity and dialogue is Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN10935 CRS }NStGHT Prepamd for Membe-q and Cornm ittees o4 Co qress ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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