A Major U.S. Concession To The Taliban?

NBC: Proposed U.S. deal with Taliban uses name of insurgency's former 'emirate'

Critics say that the wording would be a propaganda coup for the Taliban, who have presented themselves as a government in waiting since they were ousted.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is weighing a possible deal with the Taliban that would refer to the insurgents by the name of their former hard-line regime, which Washington has previously rejected as illegitimate, two foreign diplomats and a Taliban source told NBC News.

If approved in a final agreement, the phrase “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” would be greeted as a diplomatic coup by the Taliban, who have presented themselves as a government in waiting since they were ousted from power in a U.S.-led intervention in 2001. But Afghan officials and skeptics of the negotiations have long viewed any reference to the former Taliban regime as repugnant, and a potentially damaging concession.

In a draft of the proposed U.S.-Taliban agreement, the insurgents are referred to as the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” but the word “Taliban” also appears in the text, two foreign diplomats familiar with the discussions told NBC News.

The formulation is an attempt at a compromise as the Taliban uses its former regime name to refer to the country.

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WNU Editor: This is a mistake. It is bad enough that the U.S. has shut-out the Afghan government in these talks, but they are now positioning the Taliban to say that they are the "legitimate" government of Afghanistan. It is clear to me that the U.S. wants to leave Afghanistan, and the sooner the better. Here is an easy prediction. For Afghanistan this is not going to end well.

Update: No. Russia is not in a position to guarantee anything when it comes to Afghanistan .... Russia says ready to be guarantor for any Afghan peace deal between U.S. and Taliban (Reuters).