Representatives from dozens of countries, foreign ministers or generally envoys, have flocked to the Qatar city of Doha this weekend, for the planned Saturday signing of the Afghanistan peace deal between the US and the Taliban.
After a successful week of reduction of violence, there is growing optimism about this deal. President Trump confirmed on Friday that the deal will indeed be signed, as planned.
Trump indicated that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will join US negotiators in Doha to oversee the signature. Defense Secretary Mark Esper will be in Afghanistan, and will issue a joint declaration with the Kabul government.
In the immediate term, the US will draw down troops to about 8,600 from the current 13,000. Further drawdowns are expected, but not until months later. Rumors are that secret annexes cover this process, and that indeed the US might ultimately decide to keep some troops in Afghanistan, though that has been unconfirmed.
This from Pompeo:
“We have seen just these last six days a significant reduction in violence in Afghanistan and we are watching closely to see if the Islamic Republic of Iran begins to take even more active measures, active measures that undermine our efforts at peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan”
First we accuse them of giving aid to the “terrorist” Taliban and now lard ass is worried they’ll “undermine our efforts” at “peace”. C’mon arteries, clog up enough to take this clown down.
I wonder if the average Taliban fighter realizes that just as he, by the terms of the new deal, is no longer considered a terrorist, Eric Prince and his band of al-CIAda thugs aren’t really considered US troops? They’ll continue to guard the poppy fields no matter what the eventual drawdown number may be. Those “secret annexes” probably cover all that.
What did it take to make the Taliban leaders agree to that? Maybe a cut of the profits? Naw, I’m sure they made those promises with fingers crossed behind their backs, just like the North Vietnamese did. The USA will eventually be totally driven out of Afghanistan just like it was in Vietnam.
It will take a while Thomas. We’re just going down to where we were when Trump took office, troop level wise. The complete takeover by the Taliban won’t be allowed until after the election.
True, trump making this happen prior to the election is deep swampiness. And, as he always says…we’ll see what happens.
Note…love how the final withdrawl is scheduled for after the 2021 inauguration. Sheesh.
And all the deaths that occur between now and then will be described like this:
“The Afghan government claimed six Afghan civilians were killed in a Taliban attack in Balkh, but this seems not to be imperiling the overall process, and there seems to be no denying that violence has been reduced, overall.”
At least until the election is done.