© Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images AsiaPac KORENGAL VALLEY, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 27: U.S. soldiers board an Army Chinook transport helicopter after it brought fresh soldiers and supplies to the Korengal Outpost on October 27, 2008 in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. The military spends huge effort and money to fly in supplies to soldiers of the 1-26 Infantry based in the Korengal Valley, site of some of the fiercest fighting of the Afghan war. The unpaved road into the remote area is bad and will become more treacherous with the onset of winter. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. and Taliban officials signed a peace deal that aims to wind down the war in Afghanistan after more than 18 years of fighting that turned into the longest conflict in American history.

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo led a delegation that signed the agreement with Taliban leaders in Qatar on Saturday. He called it a “momentous” day for the U.S. and Afghan people but cautioned that much work lies ahead. The deal calls for U.S. troop levels to fall to 8,600 within 135 days, from about 13,000 now, and for all U.S. forces to withdraw in 14 months if the accord holds.

© Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images AsiaPac KORENGAL VALLEY, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 27: U.S. soldiers board an Army Chinook transport helicopter after it brought fresh soldiers and supplies to the Korengal Outpost on October 27, 2008 in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. The military spends huge effort and money to fly in supplies to soldiers of the 1-26 Infantry based in the Korengal Valley, site of some of the fiercest fighting of the Afghan war. The unpaved road into the remote area is bad and will become more treacherous with the onset of winter. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

The immediate partial troop withdrawal allows President Donald Trump to begin fulfilling a key campaign promise to get the U.S. out of “endless wars.” Trump said Saturday that process would begin right away. But it leaves many details -- including a lasting peace agreement between the Taliban and the Afghan government, as well as the rights of women -- to be hashed out later.

© Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images AsiaPac KORENGAL VALLEY, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 27: U.S. soldiers board an Army Chinook transport helicopter after it brought fresh soldiers and supplies to the Korengal Outpost on October 27, 2008 in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. The military spends huge effort and money to fly in supplies to soldiers of the 1-26 Infantry based in the Korengal Valley, site of some of the fiercest fighting of the Afghan war. The unpaved road into the remote area is bad and will become more treacherous with the onset of winter. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

The president, speaking Saturday in a press conference at the White House, said he plans to meet personally with Taliban leaders “in the not-too-distant future.”

“I really believe the Taliban wants to do something to show that we’re not all wasting time,” Trump said. “If bad things happen, we’ll go back.”

Oslo Talks

The deal -- which followed a seven-day reduction in violence -- is expected to pave the way toward direct talks between Taliban officials and Afghan leaders in Oslo in March.

“This effort only became real for the United States when the Taliban signaled interest in pursuing peace and ending their relationship with al Qaeda and other foreign terrorist groups,” Pompeo said in Doha. “They also recognized that military victory was impossible.”

While Pompeo and Taliban leaders were in Doha, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg were in Kabul. There, the leaders both celebrated the agreement and cautioned that it was “condition-based” and would depend on security improvements.

After Pompeo and Taliban leaders signed the deal, applause and shouts of “Allah Akbar” -- “God is Great” -- rang out. The deal calls for about 5,000 Taliban prisoners to be released by the U.S. and Afghan governments before the Oslo talks begin.

“It is glorious to watch Afghan people walking through the streets to see them dancing and celebrating peace,” Pompeo told reporters after the pact was signed. “The Afghan people are thirsting for the very opportunity that we have now presented to them.”

“We’re seizing the best opportunity for peace in a generation built on the hard work of our soldiers, diplomats, businessmen, aid workers, friends, and the Afghans themselves,” Pompeo said.

But the deal was also met with criticism, including from Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton.

“Signing this agreement with Taliban is an unacceptable risk to America’s civilian population,” Bolton tweeted Saturday, describing it as an “Obama-style deal.”

When asked about Bolton’s comment, Trump said: “Nobody should be criticizing this deal after 19 years. He had his chance. He didn’t do it.”

In exchange for the initial U.S. troop drawdown, the Taliban pledge to cut ties with all terrorists and prevent Afghan territories from becoming militant havens. Despite almost two decades of war and $900 billion in spending by the U.S., the Taliban are at their strongest since being ousted by American forces in late 2001, after the group refused to hand over al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Why Afghanistan Is the War That’s So Hard To End: QuickTake

Beyond the initial U.S. troop drawdowns, further declines depend on the Taliban fulfilling their agreement to engage in talks with Afghan officials and confront terrorists, according to U.S. officials.

“This is a hopeful moment, but it’s only the beginning,” Esper said in Kabul. “For the first time in many years, Afghanistan has a real path toward the future this country deserves.”

Asked how the U.S. could continue to assure the deal would hold as American forces depart, Esper said that “At the end of the day this will be a conditioned-based process. The standard for me, for the U.S., will be that Afghanistan never again becomes a threat” to the international community.”

In a statement, U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that “meaningful negotiations between the Afghan leadership and the Taliban” will be the real prize. “I hope this opportunity will be seized,” he said. ““The only way to achieve lasting peace in Afghanistan is through a political solution.”

Ghani’s Turmoil

The agreement comes with the Afghan government in turmoil, though. The outcome of the September election, only announced this month, have been disputed. President Ashraf Ghani claimed victory while his rival, Abdullah Abdullah, rejected the results as hopelessly flawed.

Ahead of the signing of the Doha deal, U.S. officials described the agreement as the beginning of an effort to reach a broader political solution to a war that has spanned three U.S. presidencies and killed or injured more than 100,000 Afghans over the past decade alone, while costing the lives of over 2,400 American troops.

Even as Taliban and U.S.-backed Afghan forces have fought to a stalemate, Islamic State terrorists gained a foothold in the country.

“Everyone is tired of war,” said Masood Mahfuz, a 42-year-old Afghan whose brother was killed in a Taliban bombing three years ago. “We are thirsty for peace. The only way is to make peace with the Taliban and forget the past.”

U.S. military commanders long ago assessed that the war would be unwinnable without the presence of tens of thousands of more troops and a broad political accord. At its peak the U.S. had over 100,000 troops based in Afghanistan, but peace remained elusive in a country long known as the “graveyard of empires.”

Women’s Rights

Asked how the U.S. could ensure female rights will be protected as America tries to step back from the conflict, administration officials said women’s groups will be represented at the Oslo talks, which could start as soon as March 10.

Yet even as the agreement was signed, critics in Afghanistan said that in Taliban-controlled areas women are whipped for speaking to male strangers and girls, in many cases, still can’t go to school. Underage girls are still often married off to much older men.

The U.S. has made clear its priorities are on counterterrorism. Pressed by reporters at a briefing on Feb. 25, Pompeo underscored that any political deal must be worked out by Afghan negotiators, with the U.S. in an observer role.

“The United States effort is to let the Afghans lead this process, and they’ll come up with a resolution that is, I’m sure, uniquely theirs, just like every nation across the world does,” Pompeo said.

(Updates with Bolton and Trump comments beginning in 12th paragraph.)

--With assistance from Josh Wingrove and Mario Parker.

To contact the reporters on this story: Eltaf Najafizada in Doha at enajafizada1@bloomberg.net;Nick Wadhams in Washington at nwadhams@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, ;Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu, Ros Krasny

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.