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A bipartisan report&nbsp; submitted to the US Congress on Wednesday,&nbsp; has advised that the United States should extend the May 1 deadline for pulling all its troops from Afghanistan and make force cuts contingent on progress in peace talks and by the Taliban in reducing violence and containing al-Qaida.</p>
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Sticking to the deadline, without first achieving a decline in violence and progress in peace talks, could lead to a collapse of the Afghan state and a resumption of civil war, the Afghan Study Group said in its report. On the other hand, it noted that if the Taliban don&#39;t accept a delay beyond May in completing the withdrawal of foreign troops, militants might abandon the peace process.</p>
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The US Congress had commissioned the group, whose co-chairs included retired Marine General Joseph Dunford, a former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, and Republican former Senator Kelly Ayotte. The recommendation, part of a broader proposed strategy, offers a possible way forward for a Biden administration which, like its predecessor, sees no military solution in Afghanistan but seems more doubtful of the Taliban&rsquo;s commitment to a negotiated peace.</p>
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According to&nbsp; Reuters, Retired Gen. Joseph Dunford, a lead member of the study group, told media that Zalmay Khalilzad, the peace negotiator kept on from the Trump administration, who &quot;found it helpful. &quot;He said the group&#39;s recommendations have been briefed to Biden administration officials.</p>
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The United States &quot;should not…simply hand a victory to the Taliban,&quot; said the Afghanistan Study Group report, reflecting criticism that the Trump administration conceded too much to the insurgents in a bid to end America&rsquo;s longest war.</p>
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State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Biden administration &quot;plans to support&quot; the peace process, and is assessing the Taliban&#39;s commitment to cutting ties to al Qaeda, lowering violence and engaging in peace talks.</p>
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Former President Donald Trump ordered a drawdown to 2,500 US soldiers even as violence surged.&nbsp; US officials said the Taliban maintained ties with Al Qaeda, leading to a freeze in intra-Afghan peace talks.</p>
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The report also says that there&rsquo;s an understanding between China and Pakistan on how to protect their interests in Afghanistan and Islamabad enjoys a leading role in this strategy. &ldquo;The increasing closeness of the China-Pakistan relationship means that, for the most part, Beijing&rsquo;s Afghanistan policy has hewed closely to that of Islamabad, with Islamabad taking the lead,&rdquo; the report adds.</p>
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A US-Taliban agreement signed in Doha last year calls for a complete US withdrawal from Afghanistan by May. But the report from the Afghanistan Study Group, commissioned by Congress in 2019, recommends an &ldquo;immediate diplomatic effort to extend the current May 2021 withdrawal date in order to give the peace process sufficient time to produce an acceptable result.&rdquo;</p>
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Underlining Pakistan&rsquo;s role in the peace process, the reports says that Pakistan has influence over the Taliban, &ldquo;There are, however, indications that Pakistan is re-evaluating some elements of its strategy, given the economic opportunities that would arise from a more stable Afghanistan and the possibility of the Taliban gaining a meaningful share of power&rdquo;.</p>
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The report points out that Afghanistan sits in a dangerous region as &ldquo;three of its six immediate neighbours China, Pakistan, and Iran are actual or potential nuclear powers. Two other regional powers, Russia and India, also possess nuclear weapons&rdquo; and an unstable Afghanistan risks destabilising the entire region, particularly by &ldquo;exacerbating the rivalry between India and Pakistan, two nuclear-armed powers.&rdquo;</p>
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The study group said it came to the collective judgment that a complete US withdrawal without a peace agreement would allow extremist groups to gradually rebuild their capabilities &ldquo;such that they might be able to attack the U.S. homeland&rdquo; within 18 months to three years.</p>
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