U.S, Taliban sign peace deal

News:The US and Taliban have signed a peace deal in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

Facts:

Key provisions of the deal:

• Withdrawal of the United States troops from Afghanistan.
• A commitment by the Taliban to end support for U.S.-deemed terrorist organizations.
• Maintaining a communications channel between US and Taliban to support implementation of the agreement.
• Exchange of prisoners between the Afghan government and the Taliban is intended as a way of building trust between the two sides.
• Intra-party talks among Afghan government officials, opposition figures, civil society representatives and the Taliban to discuss a political road map for bringing an end to the war.

Additional information:

About Taliban:

• The Taliban or students in the Pashto language emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
• They ruled large parts of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001,before being ousted in a US-led invasion.After years of insurgency, it now controls half of the country once more,mostly rural areas.

India and Taliban:

• India never gave diplomatic and official recognition to the Taliban when it was in power during 1996-2001.
• However,after the US-Taliban negotiations started, India has been in touch with all stakeholders.But its foreign policy has shied away from engaging with the Taliban directly.