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A8 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 22 February 2020
U.S., Taliban agree to terms for peace deal, troop withdrawal

Associated Press gitimacy, which it lacked at
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The the time it ran the country
United States and the Tal- and gave bin Laden and
iban said Friday they have his associates safe haven.
agreed to sign a peace The truce, to be monitored
deal next week aimed at by American forces, will
ending 18 years of war in Af- likely be fragile and U.S. of-
ghanistan and bringing U.S. ficials have noted the pos-
troops home, wrapping up sibility that "spoilers" uninter-
America's longest-running ested in peace talks could
conflict and fulfilling one of disrupt it. Determining who
President Donald Trump's is responsible for potential
main campaign promises. attacks during the seven
The planned Feb. 29 sign- days will therefore be criti-
ing depends on the suc- cal.
cess of a week-long na- Both sides were cautiously
tionwide 'reduction in vio- optimistic in announcing
lence' agreement in which the agreement that had
all sides have committed been previewed a week
to end attacks. It is due to ago by a senior U.S. official
start at midnight Friday lo- at an international secu-
cal time (1930 GMT, 2:30 rity conference in Munich,
p.m. EST), according to an Germany. The announce-
Afghan official who spoke In this May 28, 2019 file photo, Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Doha, ment had been expected
on condition of anonymity speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. shortly thereafter but was
because he was not autho- Associated Press delayed in part because
rized to talk to the media. of Monday's release of
The announcement follows Should the truce stand, the troops over 18 months. adversaries in an election the results of Afghanistan's
months of negotiations be- U.S.-Taliban deal would The plan is a gamble for year as being naïve and disputed September 2019
tween the two sides that be followed within 10 days Trump, who retweeted sev- willing to sacrifice the se- elections that showed Pres-
have broken down before. by the start of all-Afghan eral news accounts of the curity of U.S. soldiers and ident Ashraf Ghani winning
Yet both parties have sig- peace talks that could re- agreement. If it's success- American interests for the by an extremely narrow
naled a desire to halt the sult in the formation of a ful, he will be able to claim sake of political expedi- margin. The Taliban, mean-
fighting that began with new government in Kabul, to have taken a first step ency. while, said in a statement
the U.S. invasion after the a pledge from the Taliban toward meeting his 2016 For the Taliban, the success- that the agreement is in-
September 11, 2001, at- not to allow terrorist groups campaign pledge to bring ful completion of the truce tended to achieve nation-
tacks by Osama bin Lad- to operate in the country, American troops home. But and Afghanistan peace wide peace and and end
en's Afghanistan-based al- and the phased withdraw- if it fails, Trump could be talks would give the group to the foreign troop pres-
Qaida network. al of U.S. and other foreign painted by his Democratic a shot at international le- ence in the country.q

Canadian PM Trudeau says rail blockades have to end

By ROB GILLIES able and every attempt at that situation could get
Associated Press dialogue has been made worse and spent the last
TORONTO (AP) — Cana- over the last two weeks. He two weeks showing good
dian Prime Minister Justin noted some people can't faith in an effort to resolve
Trudeau said Friday the bar- get to work and others it. He said it would be lam-
ricades blocking rail service have lost their jobs. He said entable if there was vio-
in Canada have to come there's no point making the lence when the barricades
down now and court in- same overtures to indig- are taken down, but said
junctions must be obeyed. enous leaders if they aren't Canadians cannot con-
Demonstrators have set up accepted. tinue to suffer as a result of
blockades in British Colum- "We can't have dialogue the rail shut down.
bia, Ontario and Quebec when only one party is com- Trudeau met with his top
in solidarity with opponents ing to the table," Trudeau Cabinet ministers on Friday.
of the Coastal GasLink said. "The onus is on them." His office said Minister of
pipeline project that cross- Via Rail, Canada's passen- Crown-Indigenous Rela-
es the traditional territory of ger train service, said this Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers a statement in tions Carolyn Bennett and
the Wet'suwet'en First Na- week it is temporarily laying the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Tuesday, Minister of Indigenous Ser-
tion in northwestern British off 1,000 employees due to Feb. 18, 2020. vices Marc Miller discussed
Columbia. the continued halt in ser- Associated Press their ongoing outreach to
Some hereditary chiefs in vice on CN Rail's tracks in Indigenous leaders across
the Wet'suwet'en First Na- eastern Canada caused First Nations a priority for his nadian citizens. He said the country.
tion oppose the natural gas by railway blockades pro- government. must be done peacefully. His office also noted the
pipeline through their tradi- testing a British Columbia "We are waiting for Indig- "Police have a job to do repeated offers to meet
tional territory, though it has pipeline. CN Rail also an- enous leadership to show but how they do that, when with Wet'suwet'en heredi-
received approval from nounced 450 temporary that it understands," he said they do that, no politician tary chiefs to address im-
elected band councils. layoffs. He said the army won't be gets to say," he said. mediate and long-term
Trudeau said the situation is Trudeau has made rec- called in, saying you don't The prime minister said they issues have not yet been
unacceptable and unten- onciliation with Canada's use the army against Ca- have feared from the start accepted.q