Afghanistan/Taliban Peace Deal with updates.

[TomSea]

“There is no commitment to releasing 5,000 prisoners. This is the right and the self-will of the people of Afghanistan. It could be included in the agenda of the intra-Afghan talks, but cannot be a prerequisite for talks,” said Ghani.

Read more at: https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/rest-of-the-world-news/taliban-ends-partial-truce-to-resume-afghan-operations-spokesperso.html

Taliban ends partial truce with US, announces to resume Afghanistan 'operations'

 The Taliban Monday announced they were resuming offensive operations against Afghan security forces, ending the partial truce that preceded the signing of a deal between the insurgents and Washington.
India TV News Desk India TV News Desk
New Delhi Updated on: March 02, 2020 19:07 IST

The Taliban Monday announced they were resuming offensive operations against Afghan security forces, ending the partial truce that preceded the signing of a deal between the insurgents and Washington.

"The reduction in violence...has ended now and our operations will continue as normal," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

Read more at: https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/world/taliban-ends-partial-truce-with-us-announces-to-resume-afghanistan-operations-594385

There you go. Yes, this source above is from India but AFP is reporting this:

https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1234461943165079552

So, now, where will this leave the "peace agreement", it seems it breaks the deal only after 2 or 3 days.

[TomSea]

Some good discussions over the weekend over this, another BIG problem with Afghanistan, is apparently, the corruption. Do we fight for a side, that is apparently, deep into governmental corruption?

[EdinVA]

Some good discussions over the weekend over this, another BIG problem with Afghanistan, is apparently, the corruption. Do we fight for a side, that is apparently, deep into governmental corruption?

Moe corrupt that ours or is it just out in the open and everyone expects it?

[EdinVA]

There you go. Yes, this source above is from India but AFP is reporting this:

https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1234461943165079552

So, now, where will this leave the "peace agreement", it seems it breaks the deal only after 2 or 3 days.

We made a withdrawal agreement, the peaces is not ours to negotiate.

[skeeter]

Wasn't this always supposed to be an agreement for week long 'reduction in violence'?

[sneakypete]

Ahm shocked! SHOCKED,AH TELLS YA!

Actually I am. I was certain they would wait until all our heavy equipment had been shipped back to the US,as well as most of the US troops.

[TomSea]

Why the Taliban Is Celebrating Trump’s Peace Plan
By Eli Lake

The agreement does not require the terrorist group to recognize Afghanistan’s legitimately elected government.

On the eve of today’s ceremony to sign an agreement with the U.S. to begin peace negotiations, the Taliban declared it had already won. “This is a day of victory,” said Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, a Taliban negotiator. “Victory has come with the help of God.”

In one sense, this crowing seems premature. While it’s true that the U.S. intends to reduce its troop presence from more than 12,000 to 8,600, further withdrawals are conditioned on the Taliban adhering to its commitments to reduce violence and sever ties with al Qaeda. As Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in Kabul on Saturday, the U.S. “would not hesitate to nullify the agreement” if the Taliban reneges on its commitments.

Another condition for the Taliban will be to enter negotiations for a final peace settlement among Afghan groups themselves. That has always been a red line for the Taliban, which has never recognized the legitimacy of the elected government in Kabul. So why has it agreed to these talks now?

More at:  Bloomberg

Eli Lake is the author of the article, I'm under the impression he's "conservative".

Notice, the above, we can still renege on the deal.

[Cyber Liberty]

Ahm shocked! SHOCKED,AH TELLS YA!

Actually I am. I was certain they would wait until all our heavy equipment had been shipped back to the US,as well as most of the US troops.

Are we sending heavy equipment back?  I recall some years ago that Afghanistan was demanding millions in payments to allow that, but then that was O'Bastard's time and he would have been fine with handing over the hardware to Islamic terrorists.  Better to just destroy it all in place either way, to let them know we are fully capable of taking them out if they choose to attack us with our own weapons.

[TomSea]

[More articles:

    Foreign Policy

With Afghanistan Deal, Trump Has A Foreign Policy Record He Can Take To Re-Election
No new wars or interventions in Iran or Venezuela, a partial drawdown from Iraq and Syria, and an Afghanistan withdrawal deal is a foreign policy record to be proud of.

By Sumantra Maitra
March 2, 2020

The United States and the Taliban signed a peace deal this weekend after 19 years of war, to ease the way towards American full withdrawal from a semi-feudal hell. After a grueling marathon negotiation process, American Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad signed the papers, agreeing that the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies will withdraw all troops within 14 months if the militants uphold the deal.

Words do not convey how phenomenal this is. For a start, all U.S. “military forces” and “non-diplomatic civilian personnel, private security contractors, trainers, advisors, and supporting services personnel” are promised be withdrawn by April 23, 2021. That’s just after the election, or re-election of President Trump.

There was immediate support from the conservative and realist spectrum of foreign policy. Will Ruger of the Charles Koch Institute tweeted that while this is only a first step, it is nevertheless a major achievement for the United States to finally chart a course for leaving its longest law and order policing mission in a region where there is no U.S. strategic interest.

Read more at:   https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/02/with-afghanistan-deal-trump-has-a-foreign-policy-record-he-can-take-to-re-election/

"In 1991 the Gulf War showed everyone how not to fight us, but the 2003 invasion of Iraq showed everybody how to fight us."
-- David Kilcullen

https://smallwarsjournal.com/

The Real Test in Afghanistan Is Still to Come
How to Make a U.S.-Taliban Peace Deal Stick
By Carter Malkasian February 27, 2020

After more than 18 years of fighting in Afghanistan and many missed opportunities, the United States and the Taliban are on the verge of signing a conditional peace agreement. As a prelude to the deal, both parties began a voluntary seven-day reduction in violence on February 22. So far, the lull in the fighting has held. While an accord with the Taliban entails a number of risks, such dangers are to be expected in a complicated peace process, and they should not obscure the fact that the agreement is Washington’s best hope of ending the longest American war.

The deal on the table in Afghanistan is the culmination of peace talks that began in September 2018, when Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special representative for Afghan reconciliation, opened a dialogue with the Taliban Political Commission. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump saw bilateral talks that excluded the government of Afghan.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/afghanistan/2020-02-27/real-test-afghanistan-still-come

Last article is paywall. Still, a bit to see.

   

[sneakypete]

Are we sending heavy equipment back?

@Cyber Liberty

I know it is common these days to leave behind stuff like trucks,hummvees,etc,etc,etc,but I honestly don't see us leaving stuff like Armor behind.

And I have a childlike faith that ONE day we will even bring back vehicles,even though it would cost American jobs where the trucks and humvees are built.

 

I recall some years ago that Afghanistan was demanding millions in payments to allow that, but then that was O'Bastard's time and he would have been fine with handing over the hardware to Islamic terrorists.

Everybody has the right to dream,but I just don't see Trump doing this unless they can come up with the money to pay for them.

 

Better to just destroy it all in place either way, to let them know we are fully capable of taking them out if they choose to attack us with our own weapons.

I agree that is the answer if we can't or won't bring it back when we bring the troops back.
[/quote]

[TomSea]

GOP Senator Lindsey Graham Warns Against Trump's Taliban Peace Deal: 'Afghanistan Will Fall Apart and Civil War Will Emerge'
By Jason Lemon On 3/2/20 at 11:29 AM EST

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham warned that President Donald Trump's Taliban peace deal, which calls for the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops, could have a devastating impact on Afghanistan and lead to "civil war."

The Trump administration signed the conditional peace agreement with the Taliban in Qatar on Saturday, in a bid to bring America's longest war to an end. Hailing the historic deal, Trump said that it was "time to bring our people back home." But Graham, normally a staunch Trump defender, has argued that withdrawing all U.S. troops will make Afghanistan "fall apart."

"Mr. President, let's get the Taliban to the table but let's don't trust the Taliban to defend America," Graham said during an interview with Fox News morning show Fox & Friends on Monday morning, directing his remarks directly at Trump. "We need some of our forces in place," the senator from South Carolina continued, "that's what [former President Barack] Obama failed to do in Iraq."

More: https://www.newsweek.com/gop-senator-lindsey-graham-warns-against-trumps-taliban-peace-deal-afghanistan-will-fall-apart-1490053

The Week
I cheered the Afghanistan invasion. I was wrong.
Joel Mathis

It is a cliché to say that certain eras "end not with a bang, but a whimper," but the old trope is true in Afghanistan. U.S. and Taliban officials signed an agreement over the weekend that should lead to the withdrawal of American troops from that country — a development mostly overshadowed by the spread of coronavirus and developments in domestic presidential politics.

That shouldn't be the case. Attention must be paid. Along with the war in Iraq, the Afghan experience defines the U.S. interactions in the world in the 21st century — a righteous display of might that ultimately devolved into an unending, unsolvable, exhausting slog.

The war began on 9/11, when hijackers flew passenger planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon — another plane crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside — killing 2,977 victims and 19 hijackers. More than 2,300 American servicemembers have died in Afghanistan over the last generation, while estimates say that 157,000 people died there during the war — including more than 43,000 civilians. Everything about the war has been a tragedy.

More: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/i-cheered-the-afghanistan-invasion-i-was-wrong/ar-BB10CYke

Title of all posts changed to:  Re: Afghanistan/Taliban Peace Deal

[EdinVA]

...Taliban to defend America,...

What a load of crap.....
We were well aware of the threats from the middle east decades before 911 and we ignored them.
We were well aware that our passports were being falsified, yet we ignored them and allowed the 911 hijackers travel freely between the US and the ME.
Clinton "tried" to take bin laden out....
Bush was briefed on bin laden and his organization by the NSA and ignored it.....
We have imported terrorists from every terrorist loving country in the world since 911 (san bernadino for example)

We don't have to worry about the opponents of civilized society, we are to busy shooting our selves in the foot..

[sneakypete]

What a load of crap.....
We were well aware of the threats from the middle east decades before 911 and we ignored them.
We were well aware that our passports were being falsified, yet we ignored them and allowed the 911 hijackers travel freely between the US and the ME.
Clinton "tried" to take bin laden out....
Bush was briefed on bin laden and his organization by the NSA and ignored it.....
We have imported terrorists from every terrorist loving country in the world since 911 (san bernadino for example)

We don't have to worry about the opponents of civilized society, we are to busy shooting our selves in the foot..

@EdinVA

I really wish I could disagree with any of that,but...........

[EdinVA]

@EdinVA

I really wish I could disagree with any of that,but...........

@sneakypete
I usually am ok with Graham, he is thoughtful about his positions and although I don't always agree with him, I can usually understand him.

BUT, every now and then he gets a case of Bidenitus and he sets my hair on fire... :)

[Elderberry]

American Military News by Ryan Morgan 3/2/2020

US will free 5,000 Taliban militants under new peace deal; first 1,000 freed by next week

The U.S. has agreed to free up to 5,000 Taliban fighters and ease economic sanctions against Taliban leaders as part of the new US-Taliban peace agreement signed on Saturday.

The first 1,000 imprisoned Taliban members are set to go free by March 10, the peace terms state. The agreement states that those released Taliban members must also comply with the terms of the peace agreement and that the Taliban must not allow the return of foreign terror groups like Al Qaeda.

“Up to five thousand (5,000) prisoners of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban and up to one thousand (1,000) prisoners of the other side will be released by March 10, 2020, the first day of intra-Afghan negotiations,” the terms state.

More: https://americanmilitarynews.com/2020/03/us-will-free-5000-taliban-militants-under-new-peace-deal-first-1000-freed-by-next-week/

[Formerly Once-Ler]

too much winning

[240B]

This has not been finalized yet.
The Afghan government is refusing it.

[Formerly Once-Ler]

This has not been finalized yet.
The Afghan government is refusing it.

Then congrats to the Administration for announcing a refused deal.

[Fishrrman]

Somethin' about this entire "deal" stinks to me.

Why even bother?

[TomSea]

The Historic U.S.-Taliban Deal May Already Be Unraveling Over These Two Key Issues

The historic U.S.-Taliban agreement aimed at ending the long war in Afghanistan is only a few days old, but the deal is already threatening to unravel over disputes about key issues.

The United States and the Taliban signed a deal on February 29 that will trigger the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan in exchange for security commitments from the extremist militant group.

Part of the deal is the launch of direct negotiations between Afghans and the Taliban over a permanent cease-fire and a power-sharing arrangement. But those intra-Afghan talks have been thrown into doubt because of disagreement over two key tenets of the deal.

More: https://www.rferl.org/a/the-historic-us--taliban-deal-may-be-unraveling-over-these-two-key-issues/30466970.html

So, a few sources today are mentioning this prisoner issue.

[Formerly Once-Ler]

Somethin' about this entire "deal" stinks to me.

Why even bother?

To keep your mind off the coronavirus and the Dow.

[Formerly Once-Ler]

https://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKBN20Q1ZT

Taliban resumes attacks on Afghan forces, five policemen die

more at link

[Chosen Daughter]

Somethin' about this entire "deal" stinks to me.

Why even bother?

Sure does.  5,000 terrorists.

[Formerly Once-Ler]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-carries-out-first-airstrike-taliban-doha-deal-n1149331?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_ma

U.S. carries out first airstrike on Taliban since Doha deal

Colonel Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for the U.S. Forces, said it was a "defensive strike" to disrupt an expected attack.

KABUL — The United States conducted an airstrike on Wednesday against Taliban fighters in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, a U.S. forces spokesman said, the first such attack since a troop withdrawal agreement was signed between the two sides on Saturday.

The Taliban fighters were "were actively attacking an [Afghan National Security Forces] checkpoint. This was a defensive strike to disrupt the attack," said Colonel Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for the U.S. Forces in Afghanistan in a tweet.

He said Washington was committed to peace but would defend Afghan forces if needed.

more at link


Bombing for Peace.  Historic.

[TomSea]

BIG news here:

US military says it conducted airstrike against Taliban forces, first since peace deal
By Brie Stimson | Fox News

The U.S. military said early Wednesday it had conducted an airstrike against Taliban forces in Afghanistan, the first such attack since a historic peace deal was signed with the militant group Saturday.

The Helmand Province strikes targeted fighters attacking an Afghan government checkpoint.

“This was a defensive strike to disrupt the attack. This was our 1st strike against the Taliban in 11 days,” Col. Sonny Leggett, a U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan, tweeted.

Read more at: https://www.foxnews.com/world/in-first-attack-since-peace-deal-us-military-says-it-conducted-airstrike-against-taliban-forces

Yes, thanks for posting this story.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-carries-out-first-airstrike-taliban-doha-deal-n1149331?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_ma

U.S. carries out first airstrike on Taliban since Doha deal

Colonel Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for the U.S. Forces, said it was a "defensive strike" to disrupt an expected attack.

KABUL — The United States conducted an airstrike on Wednesday against Taliban fighters in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, a U.S. forces spokesman said, the first such attack since a troop withdrawal agreement was signed between the two sides on Saturday.

The Taliban fighters were "were actively attacking an [Afghan National Security Forces] checkpoint. This was a defensive strike to disrupt the attack," said Colonel Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for the U.S. Forces in Afghanistan in a tweet.

He said Washington was committed to peace but would defend Afghan forces if needed.

more at link


Historic.