While on Saturday President Trump announced the cancellation of the
entire Afghanistan peace process and suggested it was wholly a reaction
to a single suicide car bomb, other officials are now trying to rebrand what actually happened to make it less of a hasty decision to abandon months of progress.
They are now arguing that the US and Taliban had “deep disagreements” on
several issues, though what few issues they named, like timing of
announcing the deal, all seemed minor, and every major issue had
already been resolved.
This raises the possibility that the end of the peace process was a
Trump whim, or perhaps more likely that the administration believed some
of the terms of the deal would be unpopular, and subsequently backed
out at the last possible minute.
The merits of backing out at such a late date are dubious, however. With
a virtually finished deal in hand, the US has effectively chosen to
recommit to a losing war indefinitely, while knowing that ultimately
they’ll have to settle for a deal remarkably similar to what they could
have right now.
Officials Say ‘Deep Disagreements’ Behind Afghan Peace Talks’ Failure
A lot of details had yet to be sorted out, including timing of announcement
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
Join the Discussion!
We welcome thoughtful and respectful comments. Hateful language, illegal content, or attacks against Antiwar.com will be removed.
For more details, please see our Comment Policy.
