The US Talks with the Afghan Taliban: Pulling the Rug from under a Government it Created

The document analyzes the US-Taliban peace process leading up to the 2021 takeover of Kabul, arguing that the US prioritized its own military disengagement over the survival of the Afghan government it helped create. By excluding the Afghan government from direct negotiations and making commitments on its behalf, the US undermined the legitimacy and leverage of the republican state, paving the way for the Taliban's return to power.

• The United States underwent a fundamental strategic shift starting in 2018, moving from a goal of preserving the democratic Afghan state to prioritizing its own military withdrawal.
• The US acceded to the Taliban's demand to negotiate exclusively with the US first, which resulted in the Afghan government being excluded from the primary peace process.
• The 'Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan,' signed in Doha on 29 February 2020, focused on US military withdrawal in exchange for Taliban guarantees against international terror attacks, but lacked binding commitments for a ceasefire or specific consequences if intra-Afghan talks failed.
• The US undermined the Afghan government's sovereignty by making commitments on its behalf, most notably regarding a prisoner exchange where 5,000 prisoners were to be released by the Afghan government in exchange for 1,000 from the Taliban.
• US announcements of troop reductions, independent of progress in peace talks, stripped the Afghan government of its leverage and signaled to the Taliban that US withdrawal was inevitable regardless of concessions.

APA

Harpviken, K. B. (n.d.). The US Talks with the Afghan Taliban: Pulling the Rug from under a Government it Created. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/3d16fedc-c156-4727-9139-5a78d53188f1/Harpviken - The US Talks with the Afghan Taliban Pulling the Rug from under a Government it Created - FAIR Case Brief 9.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Harpviken, Kristian Berg. The US Talks with the Afghan Taliban: Pulling the Rug from under a Government it Created. Peace Research Institute Oslo, n.d. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/3d16fedc-c156-4727-9139-5a78d53188f1/Harpviken - The US Talks with the Afghan Taliban Pulling the Rug from under a Government it Created - FAIR Case Brief 9.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Harpviken |first1=Kristian Berg |title=The US Talks with the Afghan Taliban: Pulling the Rug from under a Government it Created |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/3d16fedc-c156-4727-9139-5a78d53188f1/Harpviken - The US Talks with the Afghan Taliban Pulling the Rug from under a Government it Created - FAIR Case Brief 9.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{harpvikenndtalks, author = {Harpviken, Kristian Berg}, title = {{The US Talks with the Afghan Taliban: Pulling the Rug from under a Government it Created}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/3d16fedc-c156-4727-9139-5a78d53188f1/Harpviken - The US Talks with the Afghan Taliban Pulling the Rug from under a Government it Created - FAIR Case Brief 9.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }