US: The Taliban have been honest with terrorist groups

“We want to make sure the Taliban live up to their commitments not to allow Afghan terrorists to use Afghan territory to harm the people,” Tom West told the US Institute of Peace, IRNA reported Tuesday night.

The US Special Representative for Afghanistan added: “I have come to realize month by month that our conversation on this issue is moving more honestly and frankly, and I believe that the Taliban are acting honestly in their efforts to contain the Khorasan branch of the terrorist group ISIS.”

West stressed that the United States’s goal is to dissuade other powers from supporting the group’s armed opposition.

The agreement between the Taliban and the United States was signed last year after 18 rounds of talks. Trump administration special envoy Zalmai Khalilzad led the US negotiating team.

Under the agreement, the Taliban and the United States were obliged to stop attacks against each other. Washington has pledged to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by May 2021 in a gradual process. The Taliban also pledged to cut ties with terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda, and pledged to reduce the intensity of their attacks and advance peace talks with the Afghan government.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace acknowledged in November that the Taliban’s rise to power in Afghanistan was the result of a deal reached with the US government in 2020.

According to the British Defense Secretary, the agreement was signed at the end of negotiations between the United States and the Taliban without the participation of the Afghan government, and finally left the Taliban free to advance in Afghanistan.