SCO Secretary-General attended the signing of a US-Afghan peace agreement

On 29 February, SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov attended the ceremony to sign an Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan between the US administration and the Taliban.

The agreement was signed by US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad on behalf of the United States and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a political Taliban leader, on behalf of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which is known as the Taliban.

The agreement stipulates a complete withdrawal of foreign forces, that is, all military forces of the United States, its allies and Coalition partners, including all non-diplomatic civilian personnel, private security contractors, trainers, advisors and supporting services personnel, within 14 months following announcement of the agreement, subject to the Taliban's fulfilment of its commitments under the agreement.

Kabul is to start talks with the Taliban, including on the release of significant numbers of prisoners on both sides, as well as diplomatic engagement with the UN Security Council to remove Taliban members from the sanctions list. The Taliban is to sever all and any ties with Al-Qaida.

The United States will reduce the number of its military forces in Afghanistan to 8,600 within 135 days of the announcement of the US-Taliban agreement. The United States, its allies and the Coalition will complete the withdrawal of all the remaining forces from Afghanistan within 9.5 months.

The United States pledged to start immediately to work with all relevant sides on a plan to expeditiously release combat and political prisoners associated with the conflict. Up to 5,000 prisoners are to be released as a confidence building measure with the coordination and approval of all relevant sides.

The signing of the agreement in Qatar will launch the process of intra-Afghan negotiations, which are scheduled to begin on 10 March 2020 and are aimed at ending the hostilities.