Afghan peace deal: Pompeo warns of ‘bumpy’ road ahead

A day after the historic deal between United States and the Taliban was signed in Doha, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed that the Taliban “have announced that they are prepared to break with their historic ally, Al-Qaeda".

Pompeo’s remarks came on Sunday during an interview with CBS News, shortly after his return to the US.

“You can see, go read the document, the Taliban have now made the break. They have said they will not permit terror to be thrust upon anyone, including the United States, from Afghanistan,” said Pompeo. 

The secretary of state confirmed that he had met with a senior Taliban negotiator, pointed out by the host to be the first such meeting between a US cabinet official and a member of the group.

“The gentleman whom I met with agreed that they would break that relationship and that they would work alongside of us to destroy, deny resources to and have [Al-Qaeda] depart from that place,” said Pompeo.

All you need to know about the US-Taliban peace agreement

Speaking of the clause which details the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and the recent comments by US President Donald Trump about the possibility of reinstating troops “if things go bad”, Pompeo agreed that the Taliban will have to follow through on a set of commitments for a permanent withdrawal.

“There is a detailed set of commitments that the Taliban have made about the levels of violence that can occur, the nature of what's got to take place,” he said, expressing hope that inter-Afghan negotiations will also take place.

Pompeo warned that the road ahead will be “rocky and bumpy” and talks between Afghan parties will be “difficult”.

“We are prepared to do what it takes to ensure that we keep America safe. We've asked everyone there to reduce the levels of violence, both the Afghan national […] security forces and the Taliban.”

Responding to a question about a pledge by the US to secure the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners – a component of the agreement already shot down by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani – Pompeo said that it was never expected that the process will be straightforward but a lot of progress has been made.

Afghan peace deal: President Ghani says 'no commitment' to release Taliban prisoners

“We have built an important base where we can begin to bring American soldiers home, reduce the risk of the loss of life of any American in Afghanistan, and hopefully set the conditions so the Afghan people can build out a peaceful resolution to their, now what for them is a 40 year struggle,” he said.

Pompeo reminded the host that the US had been successful in securing prisoner releases in the past.

“There have been prisoner releases from both sides before. We have managed to figure our path forward,” he said.

On Saturday a joint statement issued on behalf of the US and the Afghan government said American forces would withdraw completely from Afghanistan in 14 months, conditional on the Taliban upholding their end of the deal.

The process will first see numbers go down from 13,000 to 8,600 over the first 135 days and then a complete withdrawal if all conditions are fulfilled by the Taliban.