Is America's Longest War Coming to an End?

• Author: Smith, Patricia

The U.S. has announced a deal with the Taliban to halt almost two decades of fighting in Afghanistan. A look at what that means for Americans and Afghans.

On February 29, the United States signed a peace agreement with the Taliban aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan, which has been going on for more than 18 years.

The U.S. has agreed to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan in exchange for assurances by the Taliban that it won't provide sanctuary for terrorist groups like A1 Qaeda and ISIS. The agreement--which was signed in Doha, Qatar--doesn't include the U.S.-backed Afghanistan government and is not a final peace deal.

But it's seen as a major step toward negotiating a more sweeping pact that some hope could eventually end the insurgency of the Taliban, the militant group that once ruled Afghanistan under a brutal version of Islamic law.

The deal also hinges on more difficult negotiations to come between the Taliban and the Afghan government over the country's future. Officials hope those talks will produce a power-sharing arrangement and lasting cease-fire.

"I really believe the Taliban wants to do something to show that we're not all wasting time," President Trump said in Washington hours after the agreement had been signed. "If bad things happen, we'll go back. "

Here's a look at how the U.S. got involved with Afghanistan and what the deal might mean for the future.

1 How did the war in Afghanistan start?

Afghanistan has essentially been at war for more than 40 years. The fighting and instability began with the Soviet invasion of the country in 1979 (see timeline, p. 12). After years of civil war, the Taliban, an extremist group with a very rigid interpretation of how Islam should be practiced, took control in 1996.

Life under the Taliban was hard. They persecuted the country's few religious minorities. They banned music and TV. They required men to grow beards. But it was women who fared the worst. Girls older than 8 were prohibited from going to school. Women were barred from most jobs and told they must wear a burqa (a cloak covering them from head to toe) when they left their houses.

The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001, in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, in which nearly 3,000 people were killed. The goal was to capture the A1 Qaeda terrorists who were responsible for 9/11 and to destroy the radical Taliban regime that had given the terrorists safe haven in Afghanistan.

The U.S. and its allies quickly ousted the Taliban and helped set up a new Afghan government. But many of the Taliban retreated into the Afghan countryside and regrouped as insurgent fighters, carrying out deadly terrorist attacks. The U.S.-backed Afghan government and American forces have been battling them ever since.

2 Why has the war dragged on for so long?

The conflict in Afghanistan, now in its 19th year, is the longest war the U.S. has ever fought. Part of the problem was that the U.S. got distracted by launching a second war, in Iraq. In May 2003, when a major reconstruction effort was still under way in Afghanistan, the U.S. began shifting combat resources to Iraq. That helped the Taliban insurgency to grow stronger over...