Shahgul Rezai, a former member of parliament and a negotiator in peace talks in Doha, has called the 2020 agreement a “terrible setback” for Afghanistan.
“The outcome of the Doha Agreement was Taliban’s rise to power, America’s withdrawal with a damaged international reputation, and for Afghanistan, a horrific regression,” Rezai wrote on X.
She noted that Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where women are banned from education, and power is monopolized by “a group whose ideology does not belong to the modern world.”
The U.S.-Taliban agreement was signed on February 29, 2020, under the Trump administration. However, its key provision—the withdrawal of American troops—was implemented under President Biden in August 2021. During his campaign in 2024, Trump distanced himself from the deal, claiming it was nullified after the Taliban failed to uphold their commitments.
Trump, speaking on September 11, 2024, said, “To be clear, they broke the deal. There were conditions they had to meet, and they didn’t. We canceled the agreement because they didn’t honor their commitments.”
As the agreement marks its fifth anniversary, the Taliban have also moved away from it. In a rare statement, their spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, said on February 28, 2025, that the Doha Agreement is no longer relevant.
“The agreement was for a phase,” Mujahid said. “Now, we have our own government. We no longer operate under that agreement; we move forward based on our system.”
A major part of the agreement, intra-Afghan talks aimed at forming a new government and ending the war, was never implemented. Zalmay Khalilzad, the former U.S. envoy who negotiated the deal, has repeatedly called for all parties to return to the agreement to resolve Afghanistan’s ongoing crisis.
However, some international affairs experts argue that the Doha Agreement is no longer a viable framework for addressing Afghanistan’s challenges and that a new roadmap is needed.
