Peace Talks Have Begun in Afghanistan, Major Pitfalls Await

In Qatar on Saturday, Taliban leaders and a delegation representing the Afghan government and civil society began negotiating over the future of Afghanistan. This is the first time they have convened for peace talks since the United States’ entry into the war in Afghanistan nineteen years ago.

But no one should expect a breakthrough quickly—or at all. The two sides are too far apart, and the conditions simply are not propitious to end the civil conflict that has been raging in one form or another since 1978.

Simply getting the...