‘A Sudden Burst of Movement’ on the Afghan Peace Process

Updated at 1:38 p.m. ET

Two stories from Afghanistan this week were emblematic of how the conflict there has proceeded since the U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime in 2001. The first was that 14 people were killed in a suicide attack, claimed by ISIS, in Kabul that narrowly missed the country’s vice president. And the second was that Taliban fighters seized two districts in Paktika province, which is on the country’s southeastern border with Pakistan. What those stories obscure, however, is the optimism about the prospects of peace in a country that has seen little of it in recent years.

This month, the Trump administration ordered its diplomats to seek direct talks with the Taliban. That news report came just days after General John Nicholson, the head of the mission in Afghanistan, the United States was “ The militant group maintains that the Afghan government is illegitimate and that