Afghanistan Published October 05, 2019
Taliban meet US peace envoy for first time since Trump declared deal 'dead'
By Robert Gearty | Fox News
The Taliban met with U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Pakistan on Friday in the first such meeting since President Trump declared Afghan peace talks “dead,†according to reports.
Khalilzad and Taliban officials met in Islamabad but the U.S. has said peace talks have not resumed, the Associated Press reported.
Trump decided to cancel the peace negotiations with the Taliban came amid reports of a seemingly imminent peace deal. He called them off following a deadly Taliban bombing in Kabul that killed a U.S. soldier
Read more at: https://www.foxnews.com/world/taliban-meet-us-peace-envoy-trump-deal-dead.amp
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Testimony: The Trump Administration's Afghanistan Policy | FDD's Long War Journal
Thomas Joscelyn
Note: On Sept. 19, Thomas Joscelyn testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs at a hearing titled, “The Trump Administration’s Afghanistan Policy.†You can read his testimony, which mainly focuses on the relationship between the Taliban and al-Qaeda, here. An excerpt, without footnotes, is presented below.
Chairman Engel, Ranking Member McCaul, and other members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today concerning the Trump administration’s Afghanistan policy.
Until recently, the administration’s approach has been centered on the effort to negotiate a deal with the Taliban. President Trump walked away from these talks earlier this month and it appears that they will not be resumed, but that may still be a possibility. My own view is that America’s policy with respect to Afghanistan should not hinge on what the Taliban’s political delegation says in Doha. The Taliban’s actions speak volumes. Even as the U.S. pursued an agreement, the Taliban attacked a non-governmental organization in Kabul, kidnapped and murdered a human rights worker, terrorized schools, released a video justifying the 9/11 hijackings, and dispatched its suicide bombers throughout the country, often killing civilians.
Read more at: https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2019/09/testimony-the-trump-administrations-afghanistan-policy.php
Long War Journal by the FDD, Foundation for Developing Democracies, very influential and useful and I guarantee you, what they say will be very hawkish and they will want us to dig in over there.
