Afghanistan

CIC's Barnett Rubin appeared on this week's episode of the Council on Foreign Relations podcast The President's Inbox to discuss the future of the US presence in Afghanistan.

Rubin told podcast host James M. Lindsay that "the United States needs to stay engaged in a positive way, with the political actors, as they meet in these negotiations. Because both sides, in particular the side we have been supporting, will have to make some tough decisions."

In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Afghanistan-Pakistan Research Project director Barnett Rubin evaluates the truce agreement between the United States and the Taliban.

"This agreement can start a process that is the best chance to end Afghanistan’s 40-year war," Rubin argues. "If both sides keep their word, they will sign the agreement in Doha, as the U.S. and Afghan governments jointly declare support for the process. The United States will reaffirm that it recognizes only that government as the country’s legitimate sovereign."

CIC Research Associate Said Sabir Ibrahimi was quoted in El Periódico about the peace negotiations with Taliban in Afghanistan.

"The Taliban never accepted a ceasefire," Ibrahimi said. "If an agreement had been signed in Doha, we would not know what would have happened between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Really ending the war would have needed much more. There has been no dialogue between the different Afghan factions. "