The Doha Agreement, officially known as the “Afghanistan Peace Accord”, was signed on February 29, 2020 in Doha, the capital of Qatar between the Taliban and the United States. One of the clear objectives of this agreement was to pave the way for a comprehensive peace process in Afghanistan, according to which the lengthy war in the country will be put to an end. The Biden administration suddenly left Afghanistan and ended its long-term 20-year military presence in Afghanistan r for a political-intelligence deal called the Doha agreement. This agreement also had sidelines that have not yet been revealed and according to some Qatari officials, they give this agreement the name of the Taliban’s second rule over Afghanistan, or the release of high-ranking blacklisted Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The key elements of the Doha Agreement
1. A commitment by the Taliban to prevent any group or individual, including al-Qaeda, from using Afghan territory to threaten the security of the United States.
2. A commitment by the Taliban Gov.(Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, IEA) to engage in intra-Afghan negotiations with the Afghan Republican government to reach a political settlement and a permanent ceasefire.
3: A phased withdrawal of United State and Western Alliance military presence NATO forces from Afghanistan, with all foreign troops to leave the country within 14 months of the agreement’s signing, subject to certain conditions.
4. The release of thousands of Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government (after the release of about 5,000 Taliban, the districts and provinces began to fall) and the Taliban’s promise to release the prisoners.
In order to pave the way for this Doha agreement, in 2010, a number of senior Taliban leaders were unofficially transferred from Pakistan to Doha such as Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai and Sayed Toyyab Agha, the capital of Qatar, under the agreement of CIA and ISI. To open an official political office in Qatar to start peace talks with the Afghan Republican Government. However, in January 2012, due to an official agreement, four high-ranking Taliban leaders such as Syed Mohammad Tayyab Agha, Shahabuddin Delawar, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanakzai and Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai were transferred to Doha, with their transfer; the political office of the Taliban was unofficially opened in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
On June 18, 2013, an official political office for the Taliban was opened in Doha, the capital of Qatar, amid international and domestic political reactions. At the same time with the opening of this office, talks for starting the process of exchange of prisoners between the political officials of the United States and the Taliban leaders started under the leadership of the CIA. In exchange for the release of American Sgt Bowe Bergdahl on June 1, 2014, five high-ranking Taliban leaders were handed over to the political office of the Taliban in Doha, the capital of Qatar, such as, 1: Mullah Mohammad Fazal Akhund, 2: Mullah Abdul Haq Qasiq, 3: Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, 4: Muolavi Mohammad Nabi Omari and 5: Mullah Noorullah Noori.
One: Mullah Mohammad Fazl, the First Deputy of Defense Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, was captured by US forces in November 2001, shortly after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. He was arrested by the CIA and taken into custody at the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he remained for several years. Fazl was released from Guantanamo Bay in 2014 as part of a prisoner exchange for US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. Mullah Muhammad Fazil Mazloum, who is a resident of Caher Chine district of Uruzgan Province, southwest zone of Afghanistan, with the second rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan. He is serving as the first deputy of the Ministry of Defense of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Before that, he was a member of the negotiating team of the Taliban political office in Qatar, who was responsible for the coordination of the Taliban’s military commissions, and was one of the closest people to the founder of the group, Mullah Muhammad Umar Akhund, during the first regime of the Taliban. Mullah Muhammad Fazil Akhund from Uruzgan province and Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir from Helmand province, who is known as Zakir Mullah Abdul Qayyum Akhund, were more prominent and influential in the management of the military affairs of Mullah Muhammad Umar Mujahid’s group than other high-ranking officials of the Taliban.
Two: Mullah Abdul Haq Wasiq, who is also known as Haji Mullah, is currently serving as the head of the Taliban’s intelligence agency, GDI, and has played an important intelligence role in this group since the beginning of the first movement of the Taliban. Mullah Abdul Haq Wasiq, the head of the intelligence agency of the Taliban, was born in 1970 in the province of Ghazni in the southwest of Afghanistan, and now he is about 52 years old and was among the five Taliban leaders who were handed over to the Taliban in Qatar in 2014 by US.
Three: Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, who is currently serving as the Minister of Information and Culture of the Taliban, is considered one of the key members of the Taliban group, that his service period in this group begins with the beginning of the movement of the Taliban and continues to this day. Mullah Khairullah Khairkhawa was born in Kandahar province in 1967 and belongs to Popalzai tribe, who has completed his Islamic studies at the Akkorha Khattak Haqqani Darul Uloom of Pakistan. Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa started his jihad struggle from Arghistan district of Kandahar province and became a friend of Mullah Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi, the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Movement Front. He is currently serving as the Minister of Information and Culture of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, in addition to serve as the spokesperson of the Taliban group, the Minister of interior Affairs and the head of the General Directorate of Military Commissions of the group.
Four: Maulvi Mohammad Nabi Omari, who is currently serving as the first deputy minister of the Ministry of Interior of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, was included in the list of five high-ranking Taliban leaders who were released in 2014 as part of a deal. Maulvi Muhammad Nabi Omari was born in 1968 in Khost province in the southeastern part of Afghanistan namely in a religious family. He is considered one of the key members of the Taliban group, was appointed as the governor of Khost after the Taliban took over Afghanistan for the second time. However, after his eldest son Atiqullah Omar was killed in a suicide attack in Kabul province, he was appointed as the first deputy minister of interior affairs instead of Mullah Dawud Muzamil (the former governor of Balkh).
Five: Mullah Noorullah Noori, who is currently serving as the Taliban’s minister of border and tribal affairs, was included in the list of five Taliban leaders who were handed over to the Taliban’s political office in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in 2014. Mullah Noorullah Noori was born in 1967 in Shajoy district of Zabul the southwestern province of Afghanistan, and he was considered one of the closest people to Mullah Umar Akhund during the first regime of the Taliban, who was the governor of Balkh at that time.
Who was American Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, how and where did who capture him?
US Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who gained international attention in 2009 when the Haqqani Network in Afghanistan captured him. Bergdahl was serving as a Private First Class in the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, and 25th Infantry Division when he disappeared from his base in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, on June 30, 2009. The leading commander of the Haqqani network and the then governor of Paktika province Mullah Sangin abducted American Bowe Bergdahl on June 30, 2009 in Paktika province.
In 2014, American Bowe Bergdahl was handed over to a CIA team in a mountainous area near the Pakistan border in exchange for the release of five high-ranking Taliban officials, who transferred from the area in a US military helicopter. After the release of these five Taliban leaders, the peace talks between the United States and the Taliban have progressed positively. To such an extent that in 2018, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a key member of the Taliban group, was released from prison at the special request of the American negotiating team and was appointed as the head of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar. As a result, after the 11 rounds of face-to-face talks between the United States and the Taliban, the group was able to overthrow the 20-year-old republican government in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, and gain sovereignty in Afghanistan for the second time.