Assessing Implementation of the US-Taliban Peace Accord - Keough School

In February of 2020, after almost two decades of war, the United States and the Taliban signed the Doha Agreement, a three-part accord that aims to help bring peace to the country.

Yet peace has long remained elusive in Afghanistan. What comes next? And how can policymakers assess the progress made so far and work to strengthen peacebuilding efforts?

Negotiators can draw on valuable lessons from other international accords to build a sustainable peace in Afghanistan.

The stakeholders involved in this peace process need to adopt new approaches that speak to Afghanistan’s context.

About the Report

A new policy report from the Keough School of Global Affairs, Assessing Implementation of the 2020 US-Taliban Peace Accord, provides an overview of the current implementation status of the agreement negotiated between the Taliban and the United States signed on February 29, 2020.

Using the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM)—a methodology for monitoring and assessing implementation of comprehensive peace agreements developed by the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies—experts measured the level of compliance with the Doha Agreement. At the one-year mark, overall implementation stands at 57.58%.

The report concludes by identifying four specific recommendations for sustaining the negotiation process and improving the potential to build a lasting and inclusive peace in Afghanistan:

Negotiators should pursue a formal regional approach.
A decline in the level of violence is key, but a formal ceasefire agreement is not necessary.
Negotiators must have a framework agreement with an agreed-upon negotiating agenda.
The peace process in Afghanistan requires patience.

Recommended citation:

Joshi, Madhav. Assessing Implementation of the 2020 US-Taliban Peace Accord. Notre Dame, IN: Keough School of Global Affairs, 2021. https://doi.org/10.7274/r0-K8n7-2a40

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Related Resources

This report builds on the Keough School’s contributions to research, policy, and practice in global peacebuilding.

Webinar: Politics and Gender in Afghanistan

In November of 2020, Chemonics International, the Keough School of Global Affairs, and its Pulte Institute for Global Development hosted a panel of experts who discussed Politics and Gender: Maintaining Women’s Meaningful Participation in Afghanistan. Experts shared insights on what the international community can do to protect the investments the United States and its allies have made to institutionalize women’s rights in Afghanistan, now that the country stands on the brink of a historic peace deal with the Taliban.

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Peace Accords Matrix

The Keough School’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies is home to the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) program—the largest existing collection of implementation data on intrastate peace agreements. The PAM database serves as a valuable tool for analysis, which the Kroc Institute uses to support the negotiation and implementation of peace accords, including the implementation of the Colombian peace accord.

Keough School in Washington, DC

The Keough School Washington Office is a convener for conversations related to democracy, elections and more. Strategically positioned in the heart of Washington, DC, the office provides a base for the University to continue its academic pursuits and serves as a venue for programming, teaching, and outreach in the DC area.

The Global Policy Initiative

Drawing on a network of internationally engaged faculty, alumni, centers, and institutes, the Keough School and its Global Policy Initiative coordinate policy-relevant research, teaching, and outreach. The Global Policy Initiative produced this policy report, Assessing Implementation of the 2020 US-Taliban Peace Accord.

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