Afghan Peace Talks Are Damaged, But Not Yet Broken

Image courtesy of DVIDS/John Conroy

This article was originally published by the United States institute of Peace (USIP) on 10 September 2019.

USIP’s Andrew Wilder sees an urgent need to get the peace effort back on track.

President Trump’s weekend announcement of a halt to U.S. peace talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban—including a previously unannounced U.S. plan for a Camp David meeting to conclude that process—leaves the future of the Afghanistan peace process unclear. USIP’s Andrew Wilder, a longtime Afghanistan analyst, argues that, rather than declaring an end to the peace process, U.S. negotiators could use the setback as a moment to clarify the strategy, and then urgently get the peace process back on track before too much momentum is lost.