Taliban agrees not to bomb schools and hospitals in fragile deal
Islamabad: The Taliban will not attack public institutions such as schools, universities and religious centres under an agreement reached with Afghan officials after two days of talks in Doha.
Fulfilling the pledge to cut civilian casualties will be difficult in a war that last year saw 11,000 non-combatants killed or wounded, according to UN estimates.
Afghan politicians and Taliban envoys unveiled a confidence-building "road map for peace" on Tuesday after two days of talks in the Qatari capital.
Although the declaration is not binding and did not formally involve the Afghan government, diplomats hope it will form the foundation for official negotiations.
As talk took place in Qatar on Sunday morning, more than 100 school children were wounded during a Taliban attack in eastern Afghanistan.
Then early on Tuesday morning, just after the joint declaration, Afghan commandos raided a hospital in central Afghanistan, reportedly killing four hospital employees.
The two attacks underscored a sobering reality in Afghanistan: Public pledges to spare civilians mean little as long as the combatants seek leverage by continuing attacks that endanger innocent bystanders. As negotiations inch toward a possible peace deal, those commitments will be tested daily on the ground.
The Taliban still refuses to talk directly with an Afghan government they dismiss as American puppets, until foreign troops have left Afghanistan. But in a diplomatic fudge, officials from Ashraf Ghani's government took part in a "personal capacity" alongside prominent opposition leaders, politicians and activists.
The talks ended with a joint "appeal and promise to reduce violence in Afghanistan," said Markus Potzel, -Germany's Afghanistan envoy, who co-hosted the talks with Qatar. A seventh round of separate talks between the Taliban and American negotiators was due to resume in the same city later yesterday.
Under the Doha road map, both sides agreed on "ensuring the security of public institutions, such as schools, religious madrasas, hospitals, markets, dams and other working locations".
They also committed to "respect and protect the dignity of people, their life and property and to minimise the -civilian casualties to zero". Other measures included the release of elderly and disabled prisoners and to assure women's rights "within the Islamic framework of Islamic rights".
On July 1, as negotiators met, a Taliban attack in Kabul killed 40 people, most of them civilians. One child was among the killed and 51 more were wounded.
In Doha that day, neither side offered a public comment on the attack, which was aimed at a government facility but also struck a school filled with students.
On Sunday, after the Taliban attacked a government intelligence facility in eastern Afghanistan, also striking a nearby school, the headmaster had plenty to say. Hekmatullah Zaki, who directs the Afghan Rahmati private school in the city of Ghazni, said most of the students in class that day were injured — more than 100.
"The whole place was covered with blood — I was trying to decide who to help first," Zaki said.
One student was killed, he said. Others sat stunned in their classrooms, bloodied and wailing, as portions of the building collapsed around them.
"Please," Zaki said. "We ask all sides of the war to not target children and schools for their political targets."
The Telegraph, London; The New York Times