Posted on Jul 8, 2019
US envoy hails latest talks with Taliban as the best ever
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Talks with Taliban progressing towards end of Sept. Presidential election, said to control half the country. Is this a positive or is there an alternative.
US envoy hails latest talks with Taliban as the best ever
Posted from militarytimes.com
Afghanistan
Kabul
Civilian Supporter
Soldiers
Iraq
Posted >1 y ago
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In 1842 the British negotiated a peaceful retreat from one garrison to another. They Afghans killed over 16,000 and almost the whole retreating body.
I really don't think we can temper the Taliban's fervor to control the whole country through negotiations.
I really don't think we can temper the Taliban's fervor to control the whole country through negotiations.
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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/afghanistan-killed-taliban-car-bomb-attack-ghazni [login to see] 18685.html
There are a few alternatives. Neither particularly attractive. The Taliban and other related insurgent groups have continually demonstrated that they are willing to fight, long term. We can 1), accept that, and prepare to settle in for the status quo for a few more decades, or 2), ratchet up the efforts to about warp 9. 250k troops in country. Acceptance of cross border strikes/operations into Pakistan, acceptance of higher civilian and US troop casualties. Relaxing of ROEs. We would need to make war so unpalatable for the Taliban that they surrender.
However, I don’t think our civilians could handle that over any amount of time, and history has shown that the Afghans are pretty damn tough to break. So unfortunately, we might end up with a ‘peace with honor’ Situation.
There are a few alternatives. Neither particularly attractive. The Taliban and other related insurgent groups have continually demonstrated that they are willing to fight, long term. We can 1), accept that, and prepare to settle in for the status quo for a few more decades, or 2), ratchet up the efforts to about warp 9. 250k troops in country. Acceptance of cross border strikes/operations into Pakistan, acceptance of higher civilian and US troop casualties. Relaxing of ROEs. We would need to make war so unpalatable for the Taliban that they surrender.
However, I don’t think our civilians could handle that over any amount of time, and history has shown that the Afghans are pretty damn tough to break. So unfortunately, we might end up with a ‘peace with honor’ Situation.
Afghanistan: Several killed in Taliban car bomb attack in Ghazni
Attack targeting National Directorate of Security compound came as rival Afghan groups met in Qatar to discuss peace.
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SGT (Join to see)
A third option that people don’t like to acknowledge is that our government doesn’t want to leave Afghanistan. We would like to establish a permanent presence in the region, and in about another 15-25 years, Afghanistan will just be another duty station, similar to Korea.
We’ll talk about peace, we’ll withdraw some troops (increase or maintain contractors), and play up the ‘let’s have peace’ notion. But the longer it drags out, and the more years go by less and less American KIA (thus acceptable to politicians and the public), the easier it’s going to be to simply stay. Heck, it’s already been almost 20 years.
The only reason we haven’t won yet is because our leadership has never committed to winning. After a lot of sleepless nights (years) pondering why we haven’t, this really makes the most sense.
We’ll talk about peace, we’ll withdraw some troops (increase or maintain contractors), and play up the ‘let’s have peace’ notion. But the longer it drags out, and the more years go by less and less American KIA (thus acceptable to politicians and the public), the easier it’s going to be to simply stay. Heck, it’s already been almost 20 years.
The only reason we haven’t won yet is because our leadership has never committed to winning. After a lot of sleepless nights (years) pondering why we haven’t, this really makes the most sense.
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