Mr. Pompeo meeting coalition forces at Bagram Air Base during his recent visit to Afghanistan. Providing more authority to American diplomats is seen as part of a push to inject new momentum into efforts to end the Afghan war.CreditPool photo by Andrew Harnik
New York Times: White House Orders Direct Taliban Talks to Jump-Start Afghan Negotiations
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Trump administration has told its top diplomats to seek direct talks with the Taliban, a significant shift in American policy in Afghanistan, done in the hope of jump-starting negotiations to end the 17-year war.
The Taliban have long said they will first discuss peace only with the Americans, who toppled their regime in Afghanistan in 2001. But the United States has mostly insisted that the Afghan government must take part.
The recent strategy shift, which was confirmed by several senior American and Afghan officials, is intended to bring those two positions closer and lead to broader, formal negotiations to end the long war.
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WNU Editor: The Taliban have never shown any interest in having "talks" with the U.S. to resolve the Afghan conflict. Their main focus has always been to get the U.S. to leave.
More News On President Trump Ordering Administration Officials To Have Direct Taliban Talks
White House Is Reportedly Pursuing Direct Talks With Taliban -- NYMag
White House orders direct talks with Taliban on Afghanistan -- Sydney Morning Herald
White House Orders Direct Talks With Taliban -- TOLO News
Trump administration orders direct talks with Taliban in Afghanistan -- KHAAMA Press
3 comments:
Trump's instinct is to negotiate and to show strength in order to bring people to the table. I'd expect a massive increase in bombing, perhaps new weapons introduced. He will go for their nuts and will give the military the green light to squeeze them tight
Editor
A couple of links back to when the Taliban visited the US. Iran isn't the only country to shy away from dealings with the US.
https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2016/10/taliban-oil-afghanistan-161004085739050.html
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a120497texasvisit
I was shocked back in 2001 when the US invaded Afghanistan after successfully driving them from power with a very small ground force multiplied by airpower. What the heck with the vast army on the ground after the history lessons of bygone eras?
The US needs to allow Afghanistan to fend for itself, breaking up into tribal areas with the US helping what used to be the Northern alliance or others opposed to the Taliban. We have the airpower to go get them as needed.
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