{"slug":"trump-doha-agreement-afghanistan-withdrawal","title":"Doha Agreement: Negotiating U.S. Withdrawal with Taliban, Excluding Afghan Government","date":"2020-02-29","lastUpdated":"2021-08-30","description":"On February 29, 2020, the Trump administration signed the Doha Agreement with the Taliban — a deal committing the United States to withdraw all forces from Afghanistan in exchange for Taliban counterterrorism commitments. The agreement was negotiated without the Afghan government's participation and over strong objections from Afghan leadership. The deal released 5,000 Taliban prisoners, required U.S. forces to decrease from 13,000 to 8,600 within 135 days, and set a May 2021 final withdrawal deadline. It legitimized the Taliban as a state party while the Afghan government watched from outside the room.","summary":"U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad led 18 months of negotiations with Taliban representatives in Doha, Qatar while refusing Taliban demands to include the Afghan government. The Afghan government, which the U.S. had spent nearly two decades and $2 trillion supporting, was effectively presented with the agreement as a fait accompli. Trump personally called Taliban leader Mullah Baradar in a phone call. As part of the deal, the U.S. pressured Afghan President Ghani to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners, including commanders. After Biden inherited the deal, he extended the deadline and withdrew forces in August 2021; the Afghan government collapsed in days.","category":"foreign-policy","severity":"critical","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/world/asia/us-taliban-deal-signed.html","title":"U.S. and Taliban Sign Peace Agreement","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/doha-agreement-afghanistan-taliban-withdrawal/2020/02/29/story.html","title":"U.S. signs peace deal with Taliban, setting conditions for Afghanistan withdrawal","publisher":"The Washington Post"},{"url":"https://apnews.com/article/us-taliban-doha-agreement-signed","title":"US and Taliban sign landmark peace agreement","publisher":"The Associated Press"},{"url":"https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/special-projects/SIGAR-22-22-SP.pdf","title":"What We Need to Learn: Lessons from Twenty Years of Afghanistan Reconstruction","publisher":"Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR)"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["Afghanistan","Taliban","Doha-Agreement","first-term","foreign-policy","withdrawal","prisoner-release"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2018-07-01","title":"Khalilzad appointed — Taliban-only talks begin","summary":"Zalmay Khalilzad is appointed U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation. Negotiations with the Taliban begin in Doha. The Afghan government is excluded at the Taliban's insistence — a condition the U.S. accepts."},{"date":"2020-02-29","title":"Doha Agreement signed — without Afghan government","summary":"The U.S. and Taliban sign the Doha Agreement. The Afghan government is not a party. The agreement commits the U.S. to full withdrawal by May 2021 in exchange for Taliban counterterrorism commitments. Afghan President Ghani expresses deep reservations."},{"date":"2020-03-01","title":"Trump calls Mullah Baradar — first presidential-Taliban contact","summary":"Trump calls Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar in a phone call, the first between a U.S. president and Taliban leadership. Trump describes it positively. The call confers political legitimacy on the Taliban."},{"date":"2020-08-01","title":"U.S. pressures Ghani to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners","summary":"The Afghan government, which had initially refused the prisoner release terms, releases Taliban detainees including senior commanders under U.S. pressure. The commanders rejoin Taliban forces."},{"date":"2021-04-14","title":"Biden announces full withdrawal — delays to September 11","summary":"Biden inherits the Doha Agreement and announces full U.S. withdrawal, extending the deadline from May 1 to September 11, 2021. The announcement accelerates Taliban military momentum."},{"date":"2021-08-15","title":"Kabul falls — Afghan government collapses in days","summary":"The Taliban takes Kabul. The Afghan government collapses faster than U.S. intelligence projections. President Ghani flees the country. The U.S. begins a chaotic evacuation from Kabul's airport."},{"date":"2021-08-26","title":"Kabul airport bombing — 13 U.S. troops killed","summary":"A suicide bombing at Kabul airport kills 13 U.S. service members and approximately 170 Afghan civilians during the evacuation. Tens of thousands of Afghan partners and SIV applicants are left behind when the final U.S. forces depart August 30."}],"location":{"name":"Doha, Qatar / Kabul, Afghanistan","lat":25.2854,"lng":51.531},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"reported","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"Geneva Conventions","article":"Common Article 3 / Protocol II","provision":"The agreement's prisoner releases and legitimization of Taliban created conditions for subsequent Taliban assumption of power and documented atrocities against Afghan civilians, particularly women"}],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Afghan civilians, particularly women and girls who lost rights to education, employment, and public life under subsequent Taliban rule; Afghan military and government personnel who were abandoned; Afghan special immigrant visa applicants and U.S. partners left behind during chaotic withdrawal; U.S. service members killed during drawdown period","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"President; approved Doha Agreement negotiations excluding Afghan government; called Taliban leader directly; pressured Afghan government to release Taliban prisoners; set withdrawal timeline","institution":"White House"},{"name":"Zalmay Khalilzad","role":"U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation; led negotiations with Taliban in Doha over 18 months; excluded Afghan government from talks at Taliban's insistence","institution":"U.S. Department of State"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2021-08-30","summary":"Updated with final withdrawal and Kabul collapse."}]}}