Afghan president says US-Taliban deal to come ‘within days’

Afghanistan’s president Ashraf Ghani said a proper announcement on a US-Taliban deal to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan will be made in a week to ten days. Ghani attended the Munich Security Conference, where he met with top US and NATO officials.
Ghani explained the Afghan government is taking a practical approach to resolving the war. He expressed doubts about the Taliban’s intention, but said that he would to test the group’s commitment: “We are going to take a substantial step forward and test”, he said, and added: “We are not going to solve this conflict on the basis of ‘paper discussions’”.
“We are on the same page. There are risks, but we see an opportunity,” Ghani said, adding that: “there is mutual trust that we can do this together. And because of this, we agreed not to make an announcement yesterday or today. We are going to make an announcement within a week to 10 days in a coordinated and choreographed fashion”, he said.
The announcement of a possible deal comes after the Taliban agreed to a seven-day reduction of violence in Afghanistan. US president Donald Trump said a peace agreement was “very close”. US defense secretary Mark Esper also said that the agreement “looks very promising”.
The Afghan government has so far demanded to be more involved in the US-Taliban peace negotiations in Doha, but the Taliban have rejected the idea, as they do not recognize the government.