Living with the Taliban
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 10 December 2020
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The war in Afghanistan has just entered its twentieth year. It has come at an enormous cost, most notably to Afghan civilians, but also to Britain. Nearly 500 British military personnel have lost their lives there since 2001. But now, for the first time the Taliban and the elected Afghan government are involved in direct peace negotiations. The talks in Doha, which have been going on since September, follow an agreement reached earlier this year between the US government and the Taliban. Under that agreement the US promised to withdraw its remaining troops within 14 months and the Taliban said it would cut all ties with terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda. The Taliban’s place at the negotiating table reflects its strength on the ground in Afghanistan as a fighting force; and it implies that it the way is open for a return to government in Kabul. But, given memories of public executions, the exclusion of women from public life, and the banning of music and kite flying, how acceptable will that be to the Afghan people? And how easy will it be for western governments to do business with the Taliban?
David Aaronovitch is joined by: Lyse Doucet, the BBC's Chief International Correspondent Orzala Neemat, Director of the Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit, Annie Pforzheimer, a former deputy Head of Mission at the US Embassy in Kabul.
Producers: Tim Mansel, Kirsteen Knight, Sally Abrahams Editor: Jasper Corbett
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:07.3 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Aronovich. You know the drill. It's you, me, |
| 0:12.5 | a room with the top experts, 28 minutes, and one of the big issues of the day. Today, it's |
| 0:18.5 | Afghanistan and the unprecedented possibilities right now for peace. |
| 0:23.1 | But can you really do business with the Taliban? |
| 0:34.1 | Afghanistan has been called America's longest war. |
| 0:42.3 | But even the 19 years that NATO troops, including British personnel, have been there, seems short compared with the 40 years of suffering of the Afghan people themselves. |
| 0:47.3 | There have been 6,000 civilian casualties so far this year. |
| 0:51.3 | But now, genuine peace talks are underway involving the Afghan government |
| 0:55.8 | and the insurgent Islamist Taliban. But is Taliban 2020 an outfit that you can do business with? |
| 1:03.5 | Is it peace thereafter or victory? Step inside the briefing room and together we'll find out. |
| 1:14.5 | Almost miraculously, delegations from two sides involved in a horribly violent struggle in Afghanistan are sitting down and talking to |
| 1:19.4 | each other in the Qatari capital, Doha. I want to know first how that came about and what's at stake. |
| 1:26.3 | The BBC's chief international correspondent, Leicester Sett, |
| 1:29.2 | has been reporting from Afghanistan for more than 30 years |
| 1:32.1 | long before the Taliban even existed. |
| 1:35.3 | Leicester Sett, why, to a British listener, |
| 1:38.7 | couldn't we say that Afghanistan still matters? |
| 1:41.7 | Remember September 2001? |
| 1:47.9 | Remember the attacks of September the 11th when world leaders, including the British Prime Minister, stood next to other Western leaders and the |
| 1:54.8 | Afghan leader and said, we are with you for the long run. We are standing shoulder to shoulder. Well, the long |
| 2:02.4 | run still isn't over, even though the majority of British and other NATO forces left in |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.