by: Brent Smith
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So the United States wants the Taliban to agree to a ceasefire in Afghanistan. Isn’t that special.
Politico reported a couple of days ago that a peace agreement is what America is seeking, but first the Taliban must agree to a ceasefire.
Apparently, long defunct peace talks began again after president Trump made his surprise stop in November to see the troops in Afghanistan.
It’s my opinion that Trump really wants a deal with the Taliban in order to fulfill his promise to wind down the endless wars and American presence all over the world. And for Trump, it’s not just some hollow political slogan – “bring our boys (and girls) home.” He really means it.
It’s a laudable goal to be sure. One I agree with – particularly regarding Afghanistan.
And I also think that the President understands that, short of a “peace” agreement, our military is there for a long time. And it’s already been 18 years.
It has to be. This is what military personnel are taught. You fight until you win. And then you get to go home. That’s what our military does (when they’re allowed to), and does it damn well I might add.
But in Afghanistan there is a complete lack of mission statement. What’s our objective and how do we know when we’ve won? No one can say, because we’re chasing Rainbows.
And there is the other elephant in the room. Although I admire what the Trump administration is attempting, they are trying to negotiate with an enemy. And not just an enemy, but an unvanquished enemy.
Lasting peace can’t be negotiated into existence, without first defeating the enemy. The closest we ever came to this was with the USSR, and that was just a stalemate, predicated on mutually assured destruction. I guess you can also throw in North Korea, for the same reason.
But Islamists, as we know, don’t care about such things. They have no fear of assured destruction. With them, we aren’t fighting a nation state. We’re fighting an ideology, and one which doesn’t mind dying for their cause.
They also understand, as do all bad guys around the globe, that America won’t wipe them out, ala Hiroshima/Nagasaki. Those days are long gone.
And then there’s this. One of the points of ceasefire/peace negotiations is said to be that, “the U.S. wants any deal to include a promise from the Taliban that Afghanistan would not be used as a base by terrorist groups.”
This is utterly laughable, as the Taliban itself is a radical Islamist terrorist group. So what – we just don’t want them acting as a base for “other” terrorists? Well gee – where do we sign!
Let’s face it. Afghanistan is cesspool occupied by the Afghan government, the Taliban, and very powerful warlords – all vying for supremacy.
At the end of the day, it’s going to up to these three factions to determine what Afghanistan will look like in the near future, regardless of what the United States does.
We currently have about 12,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan. If this ceasefire/peace deal will allow Trump to pull out even half of them for now, I’m all for it – as bogus as it is.