The US-Taliban peace deal in Afghanistan is still holding, but both sides have some cause to complain at how it is progressing, with US military officials complaining the Taliban aren’t cutting violence enough, and the Taliban focusing on the US not coming through with promised prisoner releases.
US officials took to Twitter to threaten “response” to Taliban attacks, while the Taliban warned of “pointless and provocative statements,” saying if the US wants to help the deal they should honor their own obligations.
All of this centers on the 5,000 Taliban prisoners promised to be released. The Afghan government holds them, and the Taliban says they’ve seen no indication that the US is pushing them to follow through on the releases.
With no US pressure, the Ghani government just didn’t release prisoners for months, the Taliban resumed attacks on government forces because of this, and now the US is threatening the Taliban for doing so. Getting prisoner releases up to speed solves more or less all of this, but until the government catches up with expectations, it will strain the peace deal.
On the bright side, these discussions aren’t behind closed doors…
It’s like f**king high school with Kalashnikovs.