US Army personnel prepare to evacuate a wounded service member in Afghanistan (Credit: Scott Olson, via DailyBeast.com)
US negotiators have reportedly reached a tentative ceasefire agreement with the Afghan government and the Islamist Taliban group in Afghanistan to begin political negotiations and the draw-down of international forces in the war-torn nation. The news comes after several failed efforts during both the Obama and Trump administrations to reach an agreement, which were often scuttled as a result of attacks by Taliban factions meant to disrupt the peace effort and prolong the conflict. Details of the negotiations were released to the press yesterday by anonymous sources involved in the process and are expected to be formally announced within the coming days.
The latest ceasefire deal calls for an immediate reduction in violence, including bombings and rocket attacks, to be sustained until political negotiations begin between the Afghani government and the Taliban in early March. The Taliban have reportedly already agreed to the conditions of deescalation. The deal represents the strict Islamist organization’s first opportunity to gain international legitimacy after seizing power in Afghanistan 25 years ago. If implemented, the plan would begin a process of withdrawing the majority of the almost 13,000 US troops currenty stationed in Afghanistan over the course of 18 months.
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Author, teacher and FAI board member Joel Richardson recently interviewed a leader in the Afghan underground church on his show, The Underground, to discuss the reasons behind the rapid multiplication of disciples in her home nation.
Almost 2,400 US service members have been killed either fighting or supporting the Afghanistan War since the US invasion in October, 2001, and more than 20,000 have been wounded. Almost 160,000 Afghans have died violently in the war, including 115,000 combatants and over 43,000 civilians. Poverty, hunger and the illicit drug trade have ravaged the country in the intervening years, making a negotiated end to the war a top priority for the United States, NATO and the Afghan government.
At the same time, the re-entrance of the Taliban into Afghan politics raises uncertainties, especially for women and minority populations in Afghanistan who have made significant gains in the past two decades after being brutally repressed and persecuted under Taliban rule in the late 1990’s. Although the Taliban is not a jihadist organization and has only local aspirations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it nonetheless acted as a safe haven and a conduit for al-Qaeda in the years running up to 9/11. We would ask our global partners to pray for our political leaders during this critical time, that they would be granted divine wisdom in negotiating and implementing a peace plan that both ends the war and secures the hard-fought advances made for Afghan civilians over the last two decades. We also intercede for the burgeoning underground church in Afghanistan; for a divine hedge of protection around them and for seasons of continued fruitfulness as the gospel continues to make inroads among the poor and desperate in that unreached nation.
