Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Monday told the US envoy for Afghanistan to share details of a draft deal between the US and Taliban with all Afghan leaders, the president’s spokesman said. The agreement is expected to clear the way for a phased US troop withdrawal, officials said.
The US military will pull its troops from five bases in Afghanistan if the Taliban honour their end of a proposed deal, Zalmay Khalilzad, who is leading negotiations between the two foes, said on Monday.
“We have agreed that if the conditions proceed according to the agreement, we will leave within 135 days five bases in which we are present now”, – Zalmay Khalilzad told Tolo News, according to an excerpt of an interview the TV station published on Twitter.
Khalilzad was speaking in Dari. Tolo said the full interview would be broadcast later Monday.
Khalilzad, the Afghan-born US diplomat who has completed nine rounds of talks with Taliban representatives, is meeting Afghan leaders in Kabul this week to build a consensus before the deal is signed.
The government will need to “study and assess” details of the draft deal, Ghani’s spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told reporters.
Khalilzad has met with Ghani twice in the last two days, he said.
The agreement is expected to include a staggered withdrawal of US forces from their longest-ever war in exchange for a Taliban commitment that they will not allow Afghanistan to be used by militants to plot attacks on the US and its allies.