US recalls Zalmay Khalilzad, vows to keep troops in Afghanistan

[Fawadqasim1]

A great mistake from the US policy makers if they can't make a deal with the Taliban!!! It's almost like inviting the real adversaries of the USA into the fray!!!

It is sir but they are overconfident and power drunk.

 

[Trango Towers]

So the jihad to free muslim.lands from united evil forces and the treacherous Afghan installed in power continues. This is Pakistan's backyard. Only pakistan and its friends play here

 

[Pakistansdefender]

Terrorism & Insurgency
Taliban warns of more US losses in Afghanistan after Trump calls off peace talks
Gabriel Dominguez, London - Jane's Defence Weekly
09 September 2019
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The Taliban militant group in Afghanistan has warned that US President Donald Trump’s decision to call off peace talks with the group will lead to more US losses in the Central Asian country.

“As [the] president of the United States has announced [the] suspension of negotiations … this will harm America more than anyone else. It will damage its [the US’s] reputation, unmask its anti-peace policy to the world even more, increase its loss of life and assets and present its political interactions as erratic,” said the group in an 8 September statement.

The previous day Trump had announced via Twitter the abrupt cancellation of peace talks with Taliban representatives after the group claimed responsibility for a 5 September car bomb attack in Kabul that killed a US soldier and 11 other people.



there are no Taliban sanctuaries along the Pakistan - Afghanistan border. everything is now inside Afghanistan.

I know that is our official statement .
If any foreigner ask me I would also tell them this that there are no taliban in Pakistan.
While the reality is quite different .
Bomb attack in a mosque clearly shows that the taliban chief is imam. And he missed the attack by choosing not to come that day but his brother died .
You have filled this riff raff and now suppose if America do a drone attack Kaya aukat reh gaya gi .
The best bet is to kindly ask them to now leave .

Afghanistan has no future. It will always be playing war games for an eternity.

The world cannot a lay a finger on Pakistan. We went along with Trump's peace talks. We facilitated it to the best of our abilities. The world knows who ended the peace talks through Twitter.

Pakistan cannot be held responsible for the future. Whatever happens in Afghanistan is the sole responsibility of the US and her NATO allies.

Pakistan should now continue to completely seal off the border with Afghanistan. It should think about repatriating Afghans. It should only focus on domestic issues because we have many challanges. Afghanistan is a distraction. Let the Americans deal with it.

Afghan leaders indeed choose power over peace no doubt .
And future looks bleak . If there is peace, prosperity would automatically follow .
All I am worried is how it would effect Pakistan. The things that were promised to Pakistan in return for the deal?
Fatf name removal ? Does that happen?
The old rehtoric that died down ? Would it return .
Now when trump Decided to fight the taliban . Would he start drone attacks in Pakistan?
When taliban attacks Americans now , what bizzare reaction would trump show?

 

[Thorough Pro]

Americans are such a confused lot

WASHINGTON: The chief Taliban negotiator has been recalled to Washington and the US is not withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, announced the Trump administration on Monday amid threats by the Taliban to inflict more losses.

However, there was also an indication from the US government that the process of reconciliation with the Taliban would continue.

On Saturday, US President Donald Trump revealed that senior Taliban leaders and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani were coming to the Camp David presidential retreat on Sunday over a draft deal that would see the US withdraw thousands of troops and wind down its longest-ever war.

In a tweet that took Washington by surprise, Trump also announced that he had called off the planned secret meeting because of Thursday’s Taliban attack in Kabul that killed 12 people, including an American soldier.

Signs are process of reconciliation will continue

In a series of television interviews by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after the abrupt cancellation of talks, he told NBC News “so, for the time being, that’s absolutely the case. We’ve recalled Khalilzad back to Washington”, when asked if talks with the Taliban were completely off.

Special US envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad had spent a year negotiating a peace deal with the Taliban. Last week, both Taliban and Khalilzad indicated that the deal was almost final and could soon be signed into a legal document.

Asked by Fox News if the talks were “now dead” and what it might take to restart them, Pompeo said “for the time being they are” dead and “if the other team commits an act that’s inconsistent with that, President Trump is not going to take that deal. He’s not going to take a bad deal.”

However, Pompeo also told CNN that Khalilzad and his team “made real progress” in Doha but now the Trump administration wanted to see if Taliban leaders were serious about the commitments they made in these months-long talks. “We have to see them be able to deliver it. We have to have proof that it’s delivered,” he said. “And when we get to that point … I am confident President Trump will continue the process of [reconciliation].”

The Taliban also indicated that the talks were going well and they were on the verge of signing an agreement. They said the US negotiating team was “happy with the progress made so far” in Doha and the talks were held “in a good atmosphere”. Both sides were preparing for “the announcement and the signing of the agreement”, their statement had said.

In his interview to Fox News, Pompeo said that the US and Taliban negotiators had been working for months for a peace and reconciliation deal. “But in the end, the Taliban overreached. They forgot that America is always going to protect its interests,” he said.

President Trump, Pompeo said, was focused on two main objectives: reduction of risk and cost levels for America and peace and stability in Afghanistan. “If they [Taliban] don’t deliver on the commitments that they’ve made to us now for weeks and in some cases months, the president of the United States is not going to reduce the pressure, we’re not going to reduce our support for the Afghan Security Forces that have fought so hard there.”

Asked if the US would keep all 14,000 troops still in Afghanistan or reduce them to 8,600 as announced last week, Pompeo said: “We’re going to have to take a good look at that …We want to make sure always we have the right number of forces.”

Taliban’s threats

Responding to Trump’s decision to cancel the peace talks, the Taliban said it was an “anti-peace” move. “Now that US President Trump has announced the suspension of negotiations ... this would not harm anyone else but the Americans themselves,” the group said in a statement on Sunday.

The Taliban said it would “lead to more losses for the US”, “harm [its] credibility” and “show their anti- peace stance in [a] more clear way”.

Queried by CBS regarding the incongruity of inviting Taliban leaders to Camp David days before the anniversary of Sept 11 attacks, Pompeo responded: “We know the history of Camp David. It’s where peace has been negotiated many, many times. And sadly, you often have to deal with some pretty bad characters to get peace.”

Pompeo said that before they were invited to Camp David, Taliban leaders had agreed to reduce violence, sever their links to Al Qaeda and hold talks with the Afghan government.

He assured the American public that US commanders in Afghanistan had all the authority they need to protect American forces and to prevent attacks on the homeland. “So, we’re still at this hard. We’ve been taking it to the Taliban this well, over a thousand Taliban killed in just the last 10 days alone.” “Our struggle for the past 18 years ... will continue until the foreign occupation is finished and the Afghans are given a chance to live by their own choice.”

Pakistan’s statement

AFP adds: Islamabad, meanwhile, urged both sides to “re-engage to find [a] negotiated peace from the ongoing political settlement process”. “Pakistan looks for optimised engagement following [the] earliest resumption of talks,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2019

 

[delta2]

The USA will leave Afghanistan. It isn't a question of if, but when.

 

[OldenWisdom...قول بزرگ]

I think a lota of real political leverage has been lost. Lost forever! And no one's position has really compromised... the same paradigm is in play but on a slow boat. Afghan government still loses and India still packs and leaves albeit not on earlier timeline...

 

[Hassan Al-Somal]

President Trump vs Deep State

Or one would say struggle between withdrawal from Afghanistan vs long-term western military presence there

It looks like the Deep State won and President Trump succumbed to their demands.

 

[ARMalik]

A great mistake from the US policy makers if they can't make a deal with the Taliban!!! It's almost like inviting the real adversaries of the USA into the fray!!!

I have said it plenty of times but I will say it again, the US NEVER had intention of leaving A-Stan, and these talks were actually a deception. In the guise of talks, the US had many objectives, some of which are as below:

-US wanted to get concessions from the Taliban including ceasefire to stop the gains of Taliban.
-But concurrently, the US was rapidly expanding 'Blackwater' presence in A-Stan.
-US wanted Taliban not to attack Blackwater personnel. But Taliban refused and said that these people were not US military.
-US wanted to keep various military based in A-Stan, which the Taliban rejected cause they they knew these bases would be used to destabilize all neighboring countries.
-Through negotiations, US wanted to get more intel on Taliban so to eradicate its leadership.
-Taliban saw through the deception, and continued with their attacks which the US did not like.
-Only a few days ago, the Taliban attacked the "Green Zone" in Kabul and killed a Senior Commanding Officer of Blackwaters, along with many other important members.
-And so on.

All in all, these talks were nothing more than deception. I am afraid the situation in A-Stan will get worse but the Taliban are going after the Private army Blackwater big time, and they have support of Russia, China and other regional players including Pakistan.