The highly touted peace deal between the Taliban and the United States is already headed down a path of destruction.
Reports are breaking that Afghanistan leadership is balking at the release of the 5,000 prisoners, but that is not the only stumbling block.
Non-Negotiable
Just hours ago, Jennifer Griffin, a Fox News war correspondent, reported that Afghanistan was balking at one of the primary negotiated points in the deal.
Afghan talks are already in jeopardy after Afghanistan’s President Ghani rejected the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners. Critics say reinforcing the Taliban’s ranks with thousands of fighters while U.S. forces agree to withdraw amounts to a retreat, not a peace deal. https://t.co/rJPkGTRk8p
— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) March 4, 2020
This is a major problem for the Trump administration, which has been openly touting this as a legacy peace treaty, but it now seems to be worth about as much as a piece of toilet paper.
If Afghanistan does not agree to these terms, the deal will be null and void and we will be right back to square one.
This will be a huge embarrassment for Trump, who has already ordered American troops to be withdrawn from the area.
Attacks Resumed
As part of the peace deal, attacks between the United States, Afghanistan, and the Taliban were supposed to cease, but that has not happened either.
Earlier today, a report broke that the United States had conducted a defensive strike against the Taliban.
That attack has been confirmed by military leaders, with U.S. Forces in Afghanistan Spokesperson Colonel Sonny Leggett tweeting, “The US conducted an airstrike Wednesday against Taliban fighters in Nahr-e Saraj, Helmand, who were actively attacking an #ANDSF checkpoint.
“This was a defensive strike to disrupt the attack. This was our 1st strike against the Taliban in 11 days.
“On March 3rd alone, the Taliban conducted 43 attacks on #ANDSF checkpoints in #Helmand.
“The Taliban claim to be fighting to free Afg. from int’l forces, the Feb 29 agreement provides a conditions-based path to withdrawal.”
The attacks by the Taliban were significant, with 25 Afghan soldiers reportedly killed and 13 more being injured.
President Trump reportedly had a phone call with the Taliban’s chief negotiator, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, on Tuesday, but the details of that call have not yet been released.
One of our concerns was that the Taliban could not be trusted and that is clearly the case.
Unless there are some dramatic about-faces by the Taliban, expect that peace treaty to end up in the shredder very soon and an immediate stop of the withdrawal of our troops.
Based on Trump’s previous comments, it is reasonable to expect an uptick in strikes in the area, as Trump made it fairly clear that if the Taliban reneged on this deal, he would go back into Afghanistan with massive force to end this once and for all.
Source: CNN
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