Taliban Expects U.S. President-Elect Biden to Abide by February’s Deal

U.S. media called Joseph R. Biden JR., 77, to be the 46th president of the United States after defeating his electoral foe Donald Trump who prematurely claimed victory and sought a halt for the vote counting.

U.S. partners and allies such as the U.K., France, Germany, the European Union, the NATO and other countries were among those congratulating the president-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also offered his congratulations on Mr. Biden’s victory, saying his government is willing to continue its “multilayered strategic partnership” with the United States which is a “foundational partner” to Afghanistan in fighting terrorism and bringing peace to the country.

The Taliban meanwhile said they expect Biden to abide by February’s deal his predecessor Donald Trump struck with the group in the Qatari capital of Doha.

The Trump administration inked an agreement on February 29 which calls for foreign forces to leave Afghanistan in exchange for counterterrorism guarantees from the Taliban and never letting the country become again a safe haven for terrorism.

Now that Biden has won the election, the Taliban expect him to remain committed to the deal.

“We signed the agreement with the American government not a person,” Mohammad Naeem, a spokesman for the Taliban, told AFP.

The group’s spokesman also said the intra-Afghan dialogue, which is a part of the U.S.-Taliban peace pact, should remain “unaffected.”

The historic intra-Afghan talks began with an opening ceremony on Saturday 12 in Qatar’s capital city of Doha.

Negotiators from both the government and the Taliban have been meeting in Doha since September 12 and are still working out on procedures and related issues for the intra-Afghan talks aimed at ending Afghanistan’s longest war.

The long-awaited intra-Afghan talks aimed at ending nearly two decades of war in Afghanistan. They were first scheduled to begin on March 10, but were repeatedly delayed due to the disagreements over the controversial prisoner swap process.