With America set to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by 1 May, the time crunch to reduce violence between the Taliban and Afghan Government and work out ongoing governmental arrangements is on. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has written to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to suggest a “transitional peace government” to help the nation through the turbulence, followed by national elections. Experts say it’s part of an effort to get the government and the Taliban to progress talks. The Trump administration did a deal with the Taliban in February 2020 that would see US troops leave Afghanistan, but making arrangements have been hard with significant levels of distrust between the two sides.