Esper: Afghan Peace Deal Showing Mixed Results

Gen. Milley emphasizes major attacks are over

Defense Secretary Mark Esper commented on the Afghan peace deal Wednesday, and after praising it for several days now, says it has seen “mixed” results. He confirmed that the Taliban have honored the deal in not attacking US or other foreign troops.

The US is not doing so well on that matter, as on Wednesday the US launched airstrikes against Taliban targets, presenting it as a “defensive” act to protect the Afghan government, who the Taliban is attacking over the government not releasing prisoners.

Esper complained about the Taliban attacking the Afghan government, but Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley downplayed this, saying there were no high-profile attacks, and that in general things are going better.

If the US keeps carrying out airstrikes, however, it is not clear that the Taliban will stick to targeting Afghan government checkpoints, or not respond to the US escalation with further attacks of their own.

Author: Jason Ditz

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.