There's no point to ever being in afghanistan whatsoever, unless you happen to be an afghanistanian or whatever.
There's no point to ever being in afghanistan whatsoever, unless you happen to be an afghanistanian or whatever.
The deal brokered by the Trump Administration last February called for the United States to completely withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by May 2021. There were four primary conditions for this withdrawal. The U.S. government and Taliban representatives agreed to a number of conditions. These include a guarantee by the Taliban that Afghanistan would never be used by any group or individual as a base to plan attacks against the United States; a timeline for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghan soil; that the Taliban will start “intra-Afghan negotiations with Afghan sides”; and that a “permanent and comprehensive cease-fire will be an item on the agenda of the intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations.”
The conditions not part of the agreement are just as significant.
First, while the terms specified that talks were to begin between the two Afghan sides, there was no requirement that they be concluded before the withdrawal of American troops. Those discussions started last September and are currently ongoing. Second, the agreement did not require a cease-fire to be in effect — it simply stated it had to be an agenda item. Last December, both the Afghan Government and the Taliban representatives exchanged their proposed agenda items, and both included a cease-fire as a discussion item.
The Biden national security team must resist the temptation to dismiss the agreement or seek to unilaterally modify the terms. The United States has been fighting a pointless, unnecessary war in Afghanistan for nearly two decades. As of now, there is a firm date for the bleeding to stop and our participation in the war to end.
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The deal brokered by the Trump Administration last February called for the United States to completely withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by May 2021. There were four primary conditions for this withdrawal. The U.S. government and Taliban representatives agreed to a number of conditions. These include a guarantee by the Taliban that Afghanistan would never be used by any group or individual as a base to plan attacks against the United States; a timeline for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghan soil; that the Taliban will start “intra-Afghan negotiations with Afghan sides”; and that a “permanent and comprehensive cease-fire will be an item on the agenda of the intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations.”
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The conditions not part of the agreement are just as significant.
>
First, while the terms specified that talks were to begin between the two Afghan sides, there was no requirement that they be concluded before the withdrawal of American troops. Those discussions started last September and are currently ongoing. Second, the agreement did not require a cease-fire to be in effect — it simply stated it had to be an agenda item. Last December, both the Afghan Government and the Taliban representatives exchanged their proposed agenda items, and both included a cease-fire as a discussion item.
>
The Biden national security team must resist the temptation to dismiss the agreement or seek to unilaterally modify the terms. The United States has been fighting a pointless, unnecessary war in Afghanistan for nearly two decades. As of now, there is a firm date for the bleeding to stop and our participation in the war to end.
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