[00:00.16]A year of unrest in Afghanistan is ending with new hope [00:06.16]that a reconciliation process with the Taliban may be possible. [00:12.68]The war Afghanistan began with the American invasion in 2001. [00:20.52]It is the longest conflict in American history. [00:25.76]In September, long-time American diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad [00:32.28]was appointed to negotiate an end to the war. [00:37.31]He formerly served as the United States ambassador to both Afghanistan and Iraq. [00:46.18]Since his appointment, Khalilzad has made three trips to the area. [00:53.12]He has spoken with representatives of the Taliban and Afghanistan's neighbors. [01:00.24]Several developments led to these contacts. [01:04.32]The most important of them was the United States agreeing [01:08.85]to communicate directly with the Taliban. [01:13.84]U.S. State Department official Alice Wells [01:17.64]met with Taliban representatives in Qatar's capital, Doha, earlier this year. [01:26.04]Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had proposed peace talks [01:31.08]to the Taliban several times in 2018. [01:36.28]The first offer came in February, [01:39.32]when he offered them a political office in Kabul. [01:43.92]He also offered to cancel restrictions against Taliban leaders. [01:50.92]Taliban forces ignored the offers, [01:53.88]which they said did not meet their most important demand: [01:59.32]a withdrawal of all foreign forces from the country. [02:04.92]The group also accused the Afghan government [02:09.12]of taking orders from the U.S. [02:13.56]The biggest news of the year from Afghanistan [02:17.48]was the cease-fire during the Eid al-Fitr religious holiday in June. [02:24.84]After 17 years of war, the two sides decided [02:30.08]to halt fighting for three days to celebrate Eid. [02:36.04]Images of militants and Afghan civilians spending time together [02:42.04]flooded both traditional and social media. [02:46.96]Taliban fighters were seen taking selfies, shaking hands [02:51.96]and smiling at government security forces. [02:57.12]"Our leaders have ordered a three-day cease-fire," [03:00.88]one Taliban fighter told the French news agency AFP. [03:06.60]"We want a permanent cease-fire to resolve all our issues," he said. [03:12.78]"We are all brothers," another one told VOA. [03:18.28]While all this was happening, [03:21.26]the level of violence remained high throughout the year. [03:26.32]The Taliban continued to launch thousands of attacks, [03:30.52]severely testing the ability of Afghan forces. [03:35.56]An attack on the city of Ghazni lasted for days and caused hundreds of deaths. [03:43.84]The United Nations says Afghan civilians [03:47.80]continued to die in record numbers in 2018. [03:53.72]U.S. generals were reported as saying [03:57.12]that the losses suffered by Afghan security force were unsustainable. [04:04.16]Twelve Americans died in action in Afghanistan in 2018. [04:09.88]A U.S. military report showed that the Afghan government's [04:14.81]control over territory dropped to the lowest level -- 55.5 percent. [04:24.44]During the same period, [04:26.36]the United States increased its troop numbers [04:29.97]-- to 14,000 from fewer than 10,000 last year [04:35.12]-- and airstrikes in support of Afghan troops. [04:39.48]U.S. military reports say that the U.S. Air Force [04:44.84]dropped a record number of bombs this year, [04:48.08]at almost 6,000 by October. [04:52.92]Afghanistan held parliamentary elections in October. [04:57.36]However, the results were damaged [05:00.28]by political disputes between two groups: [05:04.32]the country's Independent Election Commission [05:07.60]and the Electoral Complaints Commission. [05:11.92]In addition, another group, Islamic State, [05:15.96]continued attacking targets in Nangarhar province [05:20.36]and Kabul city throughout the year. [05:24.64]2018 in Afghanistan is ending with a hope [05:29.04]that the increased push by the United States [05:32.36]and the willingness by the Taliban to negotiate [05:36.40]may produce results next year. [05:40.16]The negotiations are in still development right now, [05:44.92]and a road map to some form of reconciliation [05:49.44]has yet to take shape.