After 18 years of war in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said it was in negotiations with the Taliban, Afghan’s former Islamist government, to begin an orderly withdrawal from the region. Still launching terrorist attacks around Afghanistan, 55-year-old U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper tried to reassure the Afghan government that he would not pull out the troops unless there were guarantees from the Taliban that they would stop launching terror attacks around the country. Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani showed skepticism over any U.S. deal with Taliban. Before Operation Enduring Freedom started Oct. 7, 2001, Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden was sheltered by Afghan’s Taliban government. Former U.S. President George W. Bush pleaded with the late Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar to hand over Bin Laden or watch his Kabul government crumble.
When the Taliban fell Nov. 13, 2001, Omar went into exile fighting a guerrilla war against the Kabul government for nearly 18 years. How the U.S. thinks that Taliban radicals don’t have their sights on Ghani’s Kabul government is anyone’s guess. Bush-43 couldn’t make a deal in 2001 and it’s unlikely that the Pentagon can do it today. Esper told a security conference in Paris today that the U.S. would not look for a quick exit in Afghanistan, knowing the risks of a Taliban takeover of Ghani’s U.S.-friendly government. Saying that the U.S. must get a “good deal” before considering a troop withdrawal, Esper’s kidding himself thinking there’s any guarantees from the Taliban’s radical Islamist leaders. Taliban terrorists suicide bombed Afghan’s leader of the Northern Alliance Ahmad Shah Massoud Sept. 9, 2001, only two days before Bin Laden’s attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Pentagon officials look for a political solution in Afghanistan but can’t find a trustworthy negotiating partner in the Taliban. “My view, the U.S. view, is that the best way forward is a political agreement and that’s what we’re working diligently on right now,” Esper told reporters. Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) expressed skepticism about reaching a deal with the Taliban, especially removing U.S. armed forces. “That doesn’t mean we’ll take any deal, but we want to make sure we have a good deal, a good enough deal that guarantees at least the security of our countries going forward and a brighter future for the Afghan people,” Esper said. Given the Taliban’s recent attacks on several provincial capitals and suicide bombing in Kabul, it’s doubtful that any arrangement would hold up long-term. Afghan officials talk publicly like they want the U.S. out but quietly depend on military support.
Ghani expressed appreciation that Esper won’t do anything rash about pulling out U.S. troops from Afghanistan. “The Afghan government welcomes the latest remarks made by the Pentagon Chief on AFG peace process,” Presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi wrote on Twitter. Afghan officials quietly fear a Taliban coup d’etat, returning the hard-earned democratic government back to Taliban rule. Since Taliban officials openly discussed a peace accord, the Taliban’s radical fringe began suicide bombing across Afghanistan. “We echo the need for sustainable peace, end of violence and meaningful peace that would guarantee the security of Afghanistan and its allies,” recognizing that Taliban’s radical elements have no intent of giving up on their mission to topple the U.S.-baked Kabul government. Esper knows that only a small fraction of the Taliban can be trusted in any peace deal.
Pulling out thousands of U.S. troops could repeat the mistake of what happened when former President Barack Obama pulled out of Baghdad Dec. 20, 2011. Pulling out U.S. troops opened the power vacuum that paved the way for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS]l, still a deadly Islamist force continuing to menace Iraq and Afghanistan. With Afghanistan battling al-Qaeda and ISIS, it’s doubtful the Taliban would do anything to fight its Islamist brothers, looking to evict the U.S. and topple Ghani’s government. There’s nothing trustworthy about the Taliban, who, no matter what they tell the U.S., have their eyes set on overthrowing the Kabul regime. Former U.N. and Iraq Amb. Zalmay Khalizad has been talking with the Taliban in Qatar, hoping for a breakthrough. With recent attacks over Afghanistan and in Kabul, it’s doubtful Khalizad has anything new to report.
President Trump would like to pull at least 5,000 of the remaining 13,000 troops remaining in Afghanistan but certainly doesn’t want the same thing to happen in Afghanistan that happened to former President Barack Obama in Iraq: The rise of ISIS. Afghan officials have grave doubts about Khalizad’s talks with the Taliban, knowing full well their objective of returning to power in Kabul. Ghani’s Kabul government knows that the presence of U.S. forces prevents the Taliban from making a move on Kabul. Taliban officials want nothing more than to avenge the death of Mullah Mohammad Omar who died to tuberculosis in 2013. Taliban officials recall Operation Enduring Freedom evicting Omar from Kabul Nov. 13, 2001, only two months after Sept. 11. Pentagon officials know the sacrifices made by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and want to nothing to sour that legacy.
