The big issue is Al Qaeda: the Taliban will have to agree, and show that they can enforce their agreement, that Al Qaeda will not be able to pursue its terrorist agenda from any part of Afghanistan under their control. Theoretically, this should be possible. The Taliban leadership has said repeatedly that when back in power it will neither interfere itself in the affairs of other states, nor allow anyone to do so from its territory.

The Afghan government may need to give ground on a few issues as well. For one, its insistence that the Taliban lay down their arms will probably have to mean just that, rather than that they turn in their weapons. And Kabul’s insistence that the Taliban support the Afghan Constitution suggests that parts of it may need to be changed.

The Taliban, for all their retrogressive conservatism, are pragmatic Afghans.