"World" editorial. Almost two decades ago, on September 11, 2001, an Al-Qaida unit managed to attack the hearts of the United States, in New York and Washington. The leaders of the international jihadist movement, including Osama bin Laden, then lived in Afghanistan, where the Taliban government had granted them hospitality. The Taliban and Washington each made a decision that forever changed the history of Afghanistan and the world: the former, even if they were not complicit in the attacks of September 11, refused to hand over their Islamist comrades to the Americans ; the latter, after a victorious three-month war waged on the ground by Afghan mujahideen against Al-Qaida and the Taliban, decided to involve the international community in a long-term occupation of the country.
The world is still paying the price for these two disastrous decisions – the third having been, in 2003, Washington's choice to invade and occupy Iraq, a country unrelated to Al-Qaida. Even though the leaders of "Operation September 11", including Osama bin Laden, have long been killed or arrested, mainly in Pakistan, during police or special forces operations, the policy of the Bush administration he military invasion of countries has caused millions of deaths and has shaken all international rules.
Being full of uncertainty
The peace agreement signed between Washington and the Taliban in Doha on Saturday February 29 is therefore historic. Even if a definitive Afghan peace is far from being achieved, it puts an end to eighteen years of mess. The choice of Donald Trump should therefore be welcomed: if he is the second American president in a row, after Barack Obama, to have been elected notably on a promise to withdraw from the American army from Afghanistan and Iraq, he has the courage to try to end the longest war in American history, and the courage to dare to accept a peace in the form of defeat.
Because make no mistake: this "deal" between enemies is clearly a defeat for America and its allies. The Taliban immediately signaled that they saw it as a victory. It may sound unpleasant to an international community that has committed itself as one man behind George W. Bush in Afghanistan, but it is a fact. If the Afghan mujahideen had won, with Washington's support, the legitimate war against Al Qaeda in the fall of 2001, the Americans and their NATO allies would have lost the unnecessary eighteen year war that followed.
The main weakness of the Doha agreement is that the Afghan government, even if it has been kept informed of the negotiations, is not a co-signer. The heart of the deal is to plan for a US military withdrawal in exchange for an end to Taliban support for international jihadist groups. For the rest, Kabul and the Taliban must, from now on, succeed in imposing a lasting cease-fire, and negotiate the future of the country.
Will they agree to share power? Will Afghanistan be a democracy or an Islamic emirate? What will become of the little progress made in the field of ruins over the past eighteen years, particularly in terms of human rights, and in particular the rights of women? Afghanistan is entering a new era, also full of uncertainty. At least it is now up to the Afghans to write the rest of their story.
