President Trump’s announcement on Thursday that Afghanistan peace talks have resumed came as a surprise to many, because while there was an apparent process already going on, it wasn’t being made public by anyone.
Taliban officials confirmed that the talks are ongoing, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying that they are ready for talks, but that their position is the talks resume where they were previously suspended by President Trump.
Taliban negotiator Suhail Shaheen said much the same thing, saying that it is up to the US to get back to the table to resume the talks that were already nearly successful, and that their positions haven’t changed.
President Trump’s talk of resuming the process was welcomed, but his stance wasn’t entirely clear, as he claimed the obstacle was a ceasefire that the Taliban first refused, and now supposedly wants. Indications are that the US negotiators already knew that was not the case, and told Trump that the demand for a ceasefire was “overly ambitious.”
So while the talks have indeed resumed, Trump is accused of moving the goal posts, and setting the public narrative on the negotiation to expect a ceasefire, even as a negotiating team goes in not expecting that to be part of the deal.
Throughout much of the year, the US-Taliban talks had culminated in a near-deal, with everything apparently in place to end the war. President Trump withdrew and declared those talks “dead” amid reports that a deal would be signed in a matter of days.
Where the US intends to go from here is unclear, as the negotiators clearly had a deal to be made months ago, and it is only President Trump’s decisions that have prevented that. Trump’s new demands for a ceasefire may force some renegotiation.
Go, Team Taliban. Resist & expel foreign imperialist invaders & occupiers.
… These are supposed to be peace negotiations, buuut okay.
When you invade/occupy and country, the best way to bring about peace is to get out of there, pronto! No negotiation is necessary.
Hmmm.
Either Trump made a deal with the RINOs and MIC, or he’s grandstanding to up the ante and ensure impeachment is more clearly seen for what is its, a move to protect the Forever Wars from peace.
Also, Trump needs to feed his base a lean bone every now and then.
The Taliban were the indigenous Afghan response to the mostly foreign Mujahadeen the U.S. sponsored back in the 80’s.
The Russians only suffered bad if captured. The locals had to live under and with the Mujahideen, and they were far from the noble freedom fighters Carter then Reagan portrayed them as. The Taliban couldn’t help but be an improvement.
“How Jimmy Carter and I started the mujahideen – Jeffrey St. Clair, Alexander Cockburn, Counterpunch, Jan. 15, 1998.
https://www.counterpunch.org/1998/01/15/how-jimmy-carter-and-i-started-the-mujahideen/
“Hollywood’s Dangerous Afghan Illusion: “Charlie Wilson’s War”. – Robert Parry – Global Research, Jan 29, 2018.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/hollywoods-dangerous-afghan-illusion-charlie-wilsons-war/5331107
“Trump made a deal with the RINOs and MIC” Trump is employed by the MIC.
https://ericmargolis.com/2019/08/time-to-liberate-afghanistan/
“Contrary to US claims, Taliban was never a terrorist group. I was in Afghanistan and Pakistan when Taliban was created. Civil war in Afghanistan after the Soviets pulled out led to wide scale banditry, rapine and anarchy. A preacher named Mullah Omar, a veteran of the anti-Soviet war, cobbled together a force of ethnic Pashtun (Pathan) fighters and students to attack the bandits, rapists, and opium-producing Communist forces causing mayhem. This rag-tag movement came to be known as ‘talibs,’ or religious students. Thus was born Taliban.
Mullah Omar and his Pashtun fighters went on to drive the Communists from Kabul and take most of the country. According to the UN, Taliban eliminated 90% of Afghanistan’s opium production and brought a rough justice to the nation.
But then came the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Caught sleeping on guard duty, the embarrassed Bush administration claimed Taliban was somehow behind 9/11 because it had given refuge to Afghan war hero Osama bin Laden. There was no hard evidence against bin Laden but he became the target of America’s wrath and desire for revenge.”
I doubt the president is that serious about these negotiations. The CIA is likely forging American foreign policy for which Mr. Trump has minimal input.
If the Taliban want to get Washington’s attention, detonation of a tactical nuclear weapon might do so. Otherwise, Washington has no reason to stop at a 20-year occupation.
The long game is working pretty well for them, they’re winning back one province after another. Triggering a major escalation would be the wrong next step. They need to either get that ceasefire or carry on gradually pushing out the US occupiers.
It might be the wrong step, but certainly an inflection point which in theory, could go either way. German “occupation” continues as we speak.
I suspect a concerted effort at identifying CIA agents and their subsequent removal might be a more practical solution. Not as though the American people will read about it in MSM circles.
Then the US military wouldn’t be protecting the poppy fields and its “mission” becomes “untenable.”
https://theintercept.com/2019/10/30/afghanistan-health-clinics-airstrikes-taliban/
“But then came the 9/11 attacks on the United States.”
Only according to the official version, which any reasonable person would be skeptical of…
On September 2, the US and the Taliban concluded their ninth round of negotiations in the Qatari capital, with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad saying that a peace agreement had been finalised “in principle”.
On Sept 8, the US called off talks.
On Sept. 10, John Bolton was fired, for his “strong disagreement” on policy choices, “ousted after clashing with President Trump over issues like Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea.”
I doubt it was Bolton urging peace talks at Camp David, and Trump seeing the folly of that.
I suspect John Bolton wasn’t fired at all but just stepped out of the spot light as he was replaced by one of his minions,
having the Taliban at Camp David for a peace deal was too visible.
Why talk at all? The US cannot be trusted. Ask the Native Americans, ask Iran, Taiwan…
The US can only be trusted to keep raking in the profits from its CIA heroin operations. The CIA currently has $60 billion in yearly heroin distribution income worldwide that sponsors Deep State operations, everything from terrorism to regime change operations. These “negotiations” are a sham and Trump knows it.
No ceasefire, no talks.
The talks are a way of avoiding the fact that the Taliban are winning.
The USA can claim that they did not lose – like Vietnam, and Korea.