@TomSea More information showing that Taliban is nowhere near peace even though Trump is asking Congress to pay for their expenses:
On the Edge of Afghanistan
A decimated economy, a resurgent Taliban, and growing tensions with Iran are driving disenchanted Afghans to seek opportunities abroad. And for many it’s their only option.
Of all of Afghanistan’s lawless provinces, Nimruz is perhaps the rawest and most untamed. The desert in southwestern Afghanistan, cornering up against Iran and Pakistan, looks like something out of Mad Max: a post-apocalyptic wasteland where only camel herders and smugglers seem to thrive. Sandstorms kick up without warning, swallowing the horizon in a thick beige mist. Out of the haze, a group of motorcyclists suddenly rides past, their hair stiff with grit and their eyes hidden by goggles.
This is wild country.
Nimruz is a microcosm of what has gone wrong in the Afghan war. The province’s lawlessness is a testament to the Western-backed government’s failure to assert authority and curtail rogue strongmen. As Afghanistan’s drug-smuggling hub, it provides a financial artery for the Taliban, who appear stronger than ever. And because of its largely unprotected borders, and complicity from the few forces that actually guard them, it has long been a gateway for the growing number of Afghans who, facing increasing violence and a stagnant economy, have simply lost hope that their motherland can be their home.
Despite the dangers that await — kidnappers, insurgents, corrupt border guards, and some 16,000 square miles of merciless terrain — what lies beyond the wilderness calls to young Afghan men like sirens in the desert..........
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/09/12/on-the-edge-of-afghanistan-taliban-iran-war-united-states/Common Enemies
Iran has ramped up its support due to recent events in Afghanistan, namely Washington’s erratic policy switch—from Obama’s scheduled drawdown in 2014 to the now seemingly done deal involving increased U.S. support, as evidenced by the recent dropping of the “mother-of-all-bombs.†The Trump administration’s u-turn has created the uncertainty in Afghanistan. This uncertainty may have played a role in influencing Iran to hedge its bets vis-à -vis Afghan actors, in particular the Taliban.
With the cooling period in U.S.-Iranian relations, after the new U.S. administration entered office, Iran’s leaders are concerned once again about the United States using Afghanistan as a base from which to launch a potential attack on their country. Thus in the short term, at least, the Taliban is furthering Iranian interests via its insurgency against the U.S.-backed government.
The rise of ISIS in the eastern part of the country is also of great concern to Iran. ISIS, which wields the most acute hostility toward Shiites, has recruited fighters to Iran’s west in Iraq and to its east in Afghanistan. Unlike the Taliban, ISIS ideology is transnational and can be used to stir up Iran’s restive Sunni populations. Yet, also unlike the native Taliban, the transnational terrorist group depends upon a nexus of recruiting, coopting, and coercing local groups in Afghanistan. The Taliban has grown to become one of ISIS’ primary enemies in Afghanistan, as ISIS competes with the Taliban, and aims to peel away disaffected fighters from Taliban ranks. Taliban and ISIS fighters regularly clash; in early May, more than two dozen fighters were left dead after an encounter in eastern Nangarhar province.
By providing limited support to the Taliban, Iran is hitting two birds with one stone: creating a buffer against ISIS and preventing the United States from using Afghanistan as a base against Iran.
http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php?action=post;topic=363240.250;last_msg=1982662Amazing thing, the internet that is.
