"As America’s longest war wages on, is there hope for peace?" PBS NewsHour 3/18/2021
Excerpt
SUMMARY: Today in Moscow, the U.S. and half a dozen other countries are holding a summit on the best way to end the war in Afghanistan, launched by the U.S. nearly 20 years ago. President Joe Biden recently said it would be "tough" to pull American troops out of the nation by May as planned by the Trump administration. How does that affect the prospects of peace in the country? Nick Schifrin explores.
SUMMARY: In Afghanistan, commando military units are kept busy chasing out the Taliban, then moving on to the next, inevitable advance elsewhere. But after special forces retake an area, ill-equipped regular forces that replace them struggle to hold on -- the same problem American forces faced there for years. Can Afghans find any peace? Special correspondent Jane Ferguson reports.
SUMMARY: Over the past few months, violence has intensified in Afghanistan, but so have efforts to reach a negotiated peace agreement with the Taliban. Nick Schifrin asks Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, whether he faces an imminent deadline, if the country’s presidential election will be delayed, and how to convince Pakistan to help the push for peace.
SUMMARY: For 17 years, the United States and its allies have remained in Afghanistan, fighting alongside Afghan forces, now against a strong Taliban insurgency. Nick Schifrin looks at the continuing bloodshed, as well as some aspects of progress, then talks with former State Department officials Robin Raphel and Barnett Rubin about the standstill and prospects for peace.
SUMMARY: Shia teenagers were killed by a suicide bomber at an education center in Kabul on Wednesday. Meanwhile, residents of the city of Ghazni began to pick up the pieces after a five-day siege between the Taliban and the Afghan Army. Nick Schifrin discusses the attacks and Taliban tactics with Sultan Faizy, Kabul bureau chief for IHA Network, and former Defense Department official David Sedney.
