Taliban Assures the West Regarding Threats from Afghanistan
The Taliban is saying that Afghanistan would not be used to launch attacks against other nations. Troops in Afghanistan have been cut to 8,600 per the deal made with the insurgents. If conditions for withdrawal are met next year, those 8,600 would also be pulled out. The U.S. side is more interested in actions than words. The agreement also requires the Taliban to enter negotiations with Afghanistan’s government.
From Military Times:
The Taliban on Friday said it was committed to the February deal, “especially the U.S. and the West’s concern about a threat to them from Afghanistan.”
“Our country will not be used against anyone. They should not be concerned,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.
The February deal calls for all U.S. and foreign troops to withdraw from Afghanistan by mid-2021, nearly 20 years after Washington invaded the country following the September 11 attacks.
Under the agreement, the United States said it would pull out all troops in return for security guarantees from the insurgents and a pledge to hold peace negotiations with the Afghan government in Kabul.
However, a recent expert report to the U.N. Security Council said that Al-Qaeda and the Taliban “remain close” and were in regular consultations over the negotiations with the United States.
The Afghan government which has moved closer to talks with the Taliban in recent weeks, has long accused the insurgents of providing a platform to groups such as IS and Al-Qaeda to carry out attacks in the country.
President Donald Trump, who is running for re-election in November, has said repeatedly that he wants U.S. troops out of Afghanistan as soon as possible.
The Taliban holding up on its end of the bargain? In interviews, they’ve said that their struggle will continue until the whole world is Islam. The Military Times has the article here.
Category: Afghanistan, Taliban
Are those three guys from the Turbans singing group: When you Dance 1955 on Herald. They sure look great after 65 years. Are those the same turbans they wore on stage????
Why do their words convince me less than Lucy’s words to Charlie Brown regarding the football?
“Peace with Honor in our Time.” I’m sure that all of our “negotiators” realize that these mofos are simply telling us what we want to hear and as soon as we are out will restart their nefarious activities.
Whatever it takes for us to GTFO works for me. Let the ChiComs have a go at the Tar Baby. Uh oh, is the term Tar Baby raciss now? My bad. I’ll do tear down a statue to show, not only remorse for my comment, but also to show solidarity with the Taliban/ISIL crowd.
I would have motoring thru this corner of North Western Nebraska/South Western South Dakota about this time. DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
https://www.britannica.com/place/Buffalo-Gap-National-Grassland
I think the best plan is (would have been, I guess) blow up all of their shit, kill a bunch of their fighters, take a pause to say, “Pull shit like this again and we’ll be back to kick over more of your stupid little ant hills” and then LEAVE!!
^Word^ And it should have been done around New Year’s Eve of 2001.
Endless war…It’s what is good for the MIC Economy!
“The Taliban is saying that Afghanistan would not be used to launch attacks against other nations.”
Taqiya. It’s what’s for dinner!
“deal made with the insurgents”
Hey, what could go wrong??!!
Nearly 20 years later and still the poppies grow!
I say let China have a go at it and see just how quickly they end up like the Soviet Union did, there’s a reason why A-stan is called “The Graveyard of Empires”!
I can smell that picture from here.
Too bad every person on this site does not realize how SERIOUS your comment is. A few years back when VA reimbursement for travel pay was paid in cash prior to leaving the facility, I once had to stand behind an unbelievable filthy-smelling dude who was of the “M” persuasion, who think especially strong body odors are special. Had to get out of line to get away from the foulest of turds smelling individual. I can just imagine seeing the same person in a police lineup. He and four warm piles of excrement. Cop to victim with with eyes covered, “Now tell us which of these five smell most like the perpetrator”.
We had a Shia translator who lived in our 20*50′ tent for a while in 2004 in Iraq. When he took his boots off, the smell would hit you like a freight train all the way through the tent. Turns out he had (it would seem) only one pair of socks. The socks had the heel cut out and he would just hang them up in the evening (fortunately outside) and that was it as far as cleaning went. Leaving soap and foot powder on his rack didn’t get the hint across. When I got some socks from home, I took my old ones (about 4 pairs) and gave them to him. I guess he sent those home to his family because he kept wearing the nasty ones! He was moved elsewhere shortly thereafter – to the relief of us all!
When I first got to Germany I was standing in the Bahnhof in Frankfurt and a nicely dressed older couple walked past me. Their aroma lingered long after they had gone.
Had a guy in my platoon in Germany took a two week leave. He had no money, so he stayed in the barracks (he wasn’t too bright). I don’t think he bathed the entire time. One of the guys sprinkled moth balls all over his bunk (it stank, too). He didn’t take the hint.
Body odor is an international, multi-ethnic thing, especially if you spend weeks out in the boonies fighting a war.
“Body odor is an international, multi-ethnic thing, especially if you spend weeks out in the boonies fighting a war.”
This is very true, and I have spent my fair share of time revolted by my own stench on an exercise (when you know it’s bad). In my particular anecdote, however, the individual did not have to have the problem. There were showers available 24/7 inside the large TQ compound. Also, I did give him a bunch of socks because I thought he just didn’t to spend money on what he may have considered to frivolous (his was a hard luck story from what I understood). My sympathies dried up, somewhat, when he refused to wear them.
Also, as for the denizens of the area around TQ, there wasn’t much bathing going on there, either. I have seen what is dumped into the Euphrates, however, and don’t feel as though I would be doing much of that either. So I do understand.
As for stinky Marines, yes they existed, too. Their room mates in garrison and tent mates in the ‘Raq “encouraged” them to not be pigs so damn much. Nobody likes a “dirty Steve”.
If the Taliban wants to be king of this particular shit pile, I say let them have it.
And if the people of Afghanistan get tired of having the Taliban tell them what to do, well, they know what to do about it.
Either way, it’s not our problem.
As far as ISIS and other insurgents traveling there, seems to me they are going there so they can count coup on the Coalition, so remove the coalition and you remove the incentive for the insurgents to go there.
Even better, if the coalition is gone, the insurgents will be the only “foreigners” in Afghanistan which means THEY will become the targets of the locals whose only hobby is “killin’ furriners.”
And if, after all that, the country sinks back into anarchy and barbarism, well, it’s what they asked for, right?
Not sure what the solution is at this point. It’s been a cluster. Exporting democracy in the mold of the Marshall plan isn’t a viable option in some places of the world. The war has to end at some point. We aren’t going to go “Roman” on them, so that means we have to make deals with our enemies. We’ve spent enough blood and treasure.
Best solution I can come up with is old school gun boat diplomacy. Give ’em their left and right lateral limits. Step out of that and we provide a new opportunity for a local to become the dictator.
Air drop a largish gold bar, engraved “for the mightiest leadership”.
Let them know it is coming, -well- in advance, just not exactly where.
Popcorn?
” In interviews, they’ve said that their struggle will continue until the whole world is Islam”
Yep. That’s what their instruction book tells them to do. It’s also in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Of course that’s what the Christian Bible also says, but if it comes to a choice between Jehovah’s witnesses or Muslim jihadis knocking on my door, I know which I would choose.
My feeling is we will see a replay of 1975 when Saigon fell and congress wrung their hands (washed them perhaps ala Pontius Pilate).