Why Is Trump Surrendering To The Taliban? . . . "The administration has enlisted the diplomatic prowess of an admittedly impressive personage in Afghan-American former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (and, before that, to Afghanistan and to Iraq) Zalmay Khalizad, who held numerous foreign policy posts under Reagan and both Bushes.
"But has there ever been a more impressive diplomat than Henry Kissinger? Yet the deal he negotiated with North Vietnam in 1973, for which he shared the Nobel Peace Prize, was followed two years later by the Communist North’s conquest of South Vietnam. As the disaster materialized, South Vietnam President Nguyen Van Thieu justifiably declared: “The United States did not keep its word … The United States did not keep its promise to help us fight for freedom.”
"The Vietnam Syndrome must stop. There is simply no way to negotiate successfully with an anti-democratic aggressor without military force hanging close over that aggressor’s head. And yet Trump has already announced that U.S. troops in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has been making territorial gains for years, will soon be reduced by more than a third, from 14,000 to 8,600. A deal would reportedly mean the withdrawal of most U.S. forces by November 2020." . . .
A deal at any price is good for Obama-Kerry but not for Trump.Trump Cancels Secret Meeting at Camp David With Taliban After Attack
. . . "The attack on Thursday, so close to the U.S. embassy, was a clear message from the Taliban: after nearly two decades of fighting, the Americans are impotent and can't defeat us.
"Pompeo said that the talks will resume -- eventually." . . .
For the US to withdraw while the Taliban attacks tells their world that we are being driven out by them.
Trump drops Saturday bombshell: calling-off planned secret Camp David negotiations with Taliban and Afghan president . . . "In my opinion, it was always fruitless to negotiate with the Taliban. They would violate any agreement whenever they saw advantage in doing so. Their goal is to drive out the Americans the same way they drove out the Soviets, and before them, the British and the Persians. Their time horizon is unlimited, while ours is tied to the four-year presidential election cycle. Any agreement with the Taliban would be worthless.
"My guess is that President Trump knows this. And as his critics now point out, he criticized President Obama in 2012 for negotiating with the Taliban … after “slashing the military." . . .