epa08848562 Afghan security forces patrol in Pashtun Zarghun district after they cleared the area of Taliban militants, in Herat, Afghanistan, 28 November 2020. Nearly 19 years after the fall of the Taliban regime and the United States invasion, the Afghan government and insurgents on 12 September, began peace negotiations in Doha. According to a pact signed in Doha in February between the Taliban and the US, Kabul was to release 5,000 militants from their prisons, and the insurgents would release a thousand Afghan troops and then begin direct negotiations for peace in the country. EPA/JALIL REZAYEE