The US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F. Sopko has expressed pessimism over reaching a settlement after a is reached between the US and the Taliban.

“We are at a pivotal juncture in our over 18-year involvement in Afghanistan. The potential for a peace agreement with the Taliban is greater than at any time in recent history, while reaching a settlement will be challenging, sustaining it will be equally difficult. It will require coordination and de-confliction among the US and Afghan government agencies as well as our coalition allies and donors,” Sopko said before the US House of Representatives.

Elsewhere, he added that the situation on the ground in Afghanistan has not changed suitably.

“Unfortunately, since my last appearance, not much has changed on the ground in Afghanistan to diminish our concerns. The military situation is still a deadly stalemate, the Afghan economy extremely weak, corruption rampant, narcotics production growing, reintegration of ex combatant’s problematic, women’s rights threatened and oversight restricted by widespread insecurity,” he stated.

“We hope if there is an agreement, the attacks will go down. We are hoping there will be reintegration of the 80 thousand Taliban into the economy. But the concern that has been expressed to us is that the Taliban is not a monolithic organization,” he went on to say.

Arezo News Website – Humayun Salimi