Fresh off of reporting that President Trump had called for a substantial
drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan before the 2020 election,
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo now says that the reporters “got it wrong” and that there is no deadline for troop cuts.
Pompeo had said just the day prior that Trump was “unambiguous” about the drawdown, and that the policy was “end the endless wars, draw down, reduce.” It’s not clear how that could’ve been misinterpreted, though Pompeo now insists that’s not the policy.
Rather, Pompeo merely says that troop cuts are his personal “hope,” that
he’d like to see US troops out before the next election, glibly adding
to reporters on his flight that he’d also hope to see US troops out of
Afghanistan before the plane lands.
Where that leaves actually US policy is unclear. There are ongoing talks
with the Taliban which are said to be aiming for a deal that would end
nearly two decades of US occupation of Afghanistan, and even though that
deal seems quite close, the administration continues to downplay the
possibility of actually following through in any real timetable.
Has co-president Bolton chimed in yet?
Trump is no more a “negotiator” than was his mentor, Roy Cohn, or Myer Lansky. He is a mobster, talks like a mobster, acts like a mobster. That one day he can contemplate pulling troops out of Afghanistan and the next, nuking Afghans off the face of the Earth, shows that he’s only looking for some tactical advantage in the next election gained by bullying, bluster, and empty threats, not negotiation.
If Christian Zionists, like Pence and Pompeo, don’t blow up the planet first in some apocalyptic nuclear conflict, the USA will ultimately have to pull its troops out of South Asia in order to protect what is left of the Anglo-Zionist Empire closer to home. There’s no future in imperialism anymore, folks. Russia and China and the rest of the civilized world will see to that.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Iran and Russia take Afghanistan at some point, with the Taliban’s blessing.
Actually, Afghanistan and Iran will throw themselves at the new, parallel, international world order, led by Russia and China, that will ultimately replace the Anglo-Zionist Empire.
I was going to object to this on behalf of Afghanistan based on its long guerilla war with the USSR but then I remembered that almost 20 years of American murder and aggression tends to flush those feelings out like the latest Hollywood cleanse (TM)
Edit: Not to mention (duh) that we funded (and therefore fomented) their armed dispute with the USSR.
Those poor people have been at war too long…..
I don’t think they qualify as Christians. Globalist, neocon, faux-Christians perhaps.
I fully agree, Thomas Malthaus, “Christian” Zionists certainly don’t qualify as Christians since they don’t follow the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Period.
Unless one is a Gnostic, no one follows his teachings. He was an Essene, not a frickin’ Roman Catholic, or Protestant, or Baptist, or whatever else some fools follow.
They follow the $$$.
https://news.antiwar.com/2019/07/31/khalilzad-hopes-to-finalize-afghan-peace-deal-in-doha/
This is Jason Ditz’s other concurrent piece on anti-war.com. Does anyone remember Pompeo’s words, “lie, cheat, and steal”?
I think the Taliban was expecting this. I’m assuming they’ll increase attacks, but perhaps that’s not a given. The fact they could knock out a general or two along with enlisted troops via their loyal insiders should give pause and reflection.
“Unclear US policy” is the actual goal. It lets Trump play to his base by tweeting he wants to end the wars – then actually doesn’t end the wars. This makes Trump supporters the suckers they are.
US troops aren’t going to leave Afghanistan any time soon because they’re too busy shipping opium out of nearby ports to processing centers to be turned into heroin to be shot into US citizens’ arms and the funds to finance CIA off-budget black ops everywhere.
And Trump knows it.