The Taliban Are Offering the US a Fig Leaf to Withdraw. The US Should Take It
Or do this for 10 years more and then take it
“What We, the Taliban, Want”, The New York Times op-ed by Sirajuddin Haqqani, a Taliban leader:
“I am confident that, liberated from foreign domination and interference, we together will find a way to build an Islamic system in which all Afghans have equal rights, where the rights of women that are granted by Islam — from the right to education to the right to work — are protected, and where merit is the basis for equal opportunity.
We are also aware of concerns about the potential of Afghanistan being used by disruptive groups to threaten regional and world security. But these concerns are inflated: Reports about foreign groups in Afghanistan are politically motivated exaggerations by the warmongering players on all sides of the war.
It is not in the interest of any Afghan to allow such groups to hijack our country and turn it into a battleground. We have already suffered enough from foreign interventions. We will take all measures in partnership with other Afghans to make sure the new Afghanistan is a bastion of stability and that nobody feels threatened on our soil.”
IMO, the publication by the Times of this manifesto was probably a required element of the peace process. It demonstrates a willingness to publicly subscribe to things the US would like to see in a fig leaf agreement that allows us to withdraw.
Well, pilgrims, we DO need to leave that sad country. We have done as much damage as we could manage in almost 20 years. No one should expect us to do more.
Afghanistan is still just a geographical expression with a seat in the UN, a monument to 19th Century Russian and British desire for a buffer zone between their two spheres of control.
All Right! Accept the fig leaf and get the hell out!
Source: Sic Semper Tyrannis
The US military is going…..nowhere. It will remain in Afghanistan to retain that Middle Eastern ‘base’ from which to do its dirty work: warring against anyone and everyone who comes into their viewfinder and generally being in the middle of any fracas that might come up (of course, started by them). They are pitbulls that will not ever leave a place where they feel that their occupation is/will be handy to their Dear Leader, the Evil Empire.
The Taliban Are Offering the US a Fig Leaf to Withdraw. The US Should Take It. Or do this for 10 years more and then take it
If America waits 10 more years the entire baby boomer population would be in their 60’s to 80’s and a significant number of the following generations will be in their 50′ to 70’s. America will have the largest geriatric population in its entire history.
there is a reason they call Afghanistan the Graveyard of Empires
Trump will undoubtedly use this nothing agreement to brag in his campaign.
It doesn’t take much for Trump to brag, and this ain’t much for sure.
The US strategy doesn’t adapt to video of American servicemen coming home in coffins aboard C-130s. They use local Afghan fodder to stretch this out and achieve “gains” over the long term.
Having the world’s reserve currency and believing at some level the Taliban will succumb over time, grants them an immoral license.
The same tactic is used in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere.
Destroying indigenous populations makes the penultimate move simpler.
We murdered more than four million in SE Asia and had our asses handed to us in the end. You can’t put much ‘spin’ on this………..
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ac7cd17410fca832a6f0898b61a3e30d33f91353c8a2b376e57c6c6f7cc2fc9c.jpg
I’ll have to admit some umbrage at those who state, “The US never learns from its mistakes, primarily Vietnam.”
A few select elitists reap the financial windfall before, during, and after the war, as everyone here well knows.
No ideological or political axe to grind. Criminal enterprises masquerading as
God’s surrogates wanting to “right wrongs.”
“Jesus ^&$@()!
https://vietnamembassy-pyongyang.org/how-many-vietnamese-died-in-the-vietnam-war/
As stupid as our involvement in Vietnam was, it was not a “mistake”. It was, as you mentioned, a criminal enterprise, as was the French invasion in 1873.
It’s too bad they let those choppers fly there. Why were they not shot out of the sky? Filled with invader yankys.
Most of the Americans were already gone – nothing left but a few Marine embassy guards.
Those Hueys were loaded with Vietnamese collaborators and their families. Anyway, the streets of Saigon were too full of celebrating Vietnamese to allow anti-aircraft fire to drop flaming helicopters among them.
Vietnam had just won a 100 year long war. To learn just how much that meant, read Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow.
Well, it’s not really an offer to get out. Not at all.
First, the Taliban wanted something with all US troops leaving, but the US refused.
Second, it only reduces US troops to 8,600, the number that were there before Trump.
Third, even that reduction doesn’t take place until a year and half of “truce.”
There never was any real point in invading the place because Afghanistan was no threat, and the US effectively lost despite killing a great many peasants.
I’m pretty sure the US intends to stay there with some force, considering its hostilities towards Iran and Russia.
Just as they keep some forces, uninvited and unwelcome, in Syria and Iraq.
True. But, let’s hope that, until the US is brought to the point where it can no longer afford to occupy Afghanistan and much of the rest of the world, that the Taliban (the legitimate Afghan government) and other legitimate governments & resistance groups make occupation as difficult as possible for the Imperium.
I agree, the Taliban cannot allow US and NATO forces to remain in the country after two decades of demanding their removal. My guess is that the Taliban will allow the US the face saving measure of letting some troops remain for a limited time and for them to be quietly withdrawn while keeping a small force ostensibly to defend the american diplomatic presence. Will the US accept this?. I doubt it. America cannot accept anything less than total capitulation of their perceived enemies. They will, as usual find some excuse to renege on their agreements. A typical American tactic. Make an agreement and then make further demands post hock. The Taliban of course will not accept that and will start attacking americans again. This will give them the excuse to once again move more troops back into Afghanistan.
They will do this until their ongoing collapse can no longer be hidden and they are forced to withdraw due to economic and not military reasons.
If the US does as you predict, I imagine that, at some point, the Taliban will decide to make occupation so costly for the US, in lives, that we must vacate.
They are more than capable of insuring that no American can move in Afghanistan without being shot. Enough kids come home in bags and we will leave.