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Today TheArticle reveals that the Trump administration is secretly preparing to agree a peace deal with the Taliban. It would allow American forces to pull out of Afghanistan, in return for

a promise that the country would no longer be a base for Islamist terrorism. In a world exclusive, co-written by Lynne O’Donnell, the former head of the Associated Press bureau in Kabul, and

Mirwais Khan in Quetta, Taliban leaders have spoken for the first time about how they see the endgame of the 17-year conflict, in which the US has been embroiled for longer than the Vietnam

War. The peace process began last year when President Trump dispatched an envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad (known as “Zal”), to put out feelers to the Taliban insurgents, hitherto shunned by the US

and other Western powers. By lifting the lid on the highly secretive talks, from which the elected Afghan government of President Ghani has been excluded, our writers reveal the extent of

the latter’s betrayal by Washington. Taliban ministers are likely to take key security roles in any future regime, while human rights, democracy and women’s equality could be sacrificed on

the altar of realpolitik. The Taliban have always refused to talk to the elected government, which they regard as a puppet regime. Despite assurances that they will allow the Afghan people

to choose their government, Taliban ideology remains totally opposed to Western civilisation, including democracy. About half of Afghanistan is currently controlled by the Taliban, who use

bases in Pakistan where they are unofficially protected by Pakistani military and intelligence, who operate independently of the government of President Imran Khan. The Trump administration

has evidently decided to cut its losses, extricate some 8,000 US troops (plus another 9,000 Nato personnel) and declare peace, abandoning the Ghani regime and the Afghan people to their

fate. Our story also reveals that Afghan officials are appalled by the delegitimisation of a government that has been sustained by a Nato mission led by the US. The Afghan war is estimated

to have cost the US alone more than $1 trillion. Why is Donald Trump so eager to end US involvement? It isn’t only a question of the cost. The President is focused on his re-election

campaign and the planned withdrawal would dovetail nicely with the US election timetable. No less important to Trump is the lure of the Nobel Peace Prize. Already nominated by his close

ally, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump hopes to earn his reward by ending three long-standing conflicts: Korea, Israel-Palestine and Afghanistan. Last week he failed to achieve

a breakthrough in talks with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. He has also made little progress in the Middle East peace process, where Palestinian leaders have snubbed his proposals.

So Trump’s hopes of becoming a Nobel laureate — an accolade given to just four US Presidents, most recently Barack Obama — rest on ending the war in Afghanistan, an achievement that eluded

his two predecessors. He is running out of time; hence the decision to break the deadlock by marginalising the Afghan government and talking directly to the Taliban. Trump may believe that

as a Nobel laureate, he would guarantee his own immunity from impeachment. It is hard to imagine a president who had been awarded Nobel Peace Prize being subsequently forced to resign, like

Richard Nixon, or even prosecuted. But if the stakes are high for Donald Trump, they are even higher for the Afghan people. Now that Lynne O’Donnell and Mirwais Khan have revealed what has

been going on behind closed doors in their exclusive for TheArticle, the world will be able to decide whether the future of Afghanistan can safely be left in the hands of the same fanatics

whose regime was overthrown some 17 years ago. Last time it was only after the 9/11 attacks that the West intervened. If Afghanistan reverts to Taliban rule, we will only have ourselves to

blame when a new exodus of refugees heads towards Europe.