Encouraging comments from the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan on “significant progress” in talks with the Taliban heightened hopes for peace, but the envoy and experts on the region warned that major obstacles remain.
Even if a deal is reached, the battle-weary nation of 35 million people could be enveloped in a bloody civil war long after the Americans are gone.
Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad expressed optimism after talks in Qatar wrapped up over the weekend but said, “Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.” Monday, he told The New York Times that negotiators agreed on a “framework” for a plan aimed at ending the conflict that has crippled Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion more than 17 years ago.
