Foreign troops to quit Afghanistan in 18 months under draft deal

[Swordsmyth]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...ab7_story.html

Time to fire him.

[Swordsmyth]

America has agreed in principle to withdraw 5,000 troops from five military bases in 20 weeks, in a deal with the Taliban to kick start talks with the Afghan government.
The accord which could be announced as early as Wednesday would see US troops begin to pull back from their longest ever conflict, in return for a reduction in Taliban attacks and the start of formal negotiations with Ashraf Ghani's government.

After the first tranche of 5,000 of America's 14,000-odd troops had left, the rest would gradually leave the country over 15 months or more. If the Taliban failed to meet the conditions then America would “stop the clock” on the withdrawal however.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/us-start-afgh...175551050.html

[enhanced_deficit]

America has agreed in principle to withdraw 5,000 troops from five military bases in 20 weeks, in a deal with the Taliban to kick start talks with the Afghan government.
The accord which could be announced as early as Wednesday would see US troops begin to pull back from their longest ever conflict, in return for a reduction in Taliban attacks and the start of formal negotiations with Ashraf Ghani's government.

After the first tranche of 5,000 of America's 14,000-odd troops had left, the rest would gradually leave the country over 15 months or more. If the Taliban failed to meet the conditions then America would “stop the clock” on the withdrawal however.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/us-start-afgh...175551050.html

NYT is reporting a major bombing targetting fortified foreigners compound right after announcement of 'peace agreement':

After Bombing, Afghans Demand That Foreigners Leave Their Neighborhood

Firefighters and city workers on Tuesday near a crater left by a car bomb outside Green Village, a fortified compound in Kabul.
Credit Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times

By David Zucchino and Fatima Faizi

Sept. 3, 2019

KABUL, Afghanistan — Samsor Dawlatzai, a part-time laborer, settled in after dinner Monday night to watch a television interview with the American peace envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad.

The envoy had just mentioned reaching a peace agreement “in principle” with the Taliban when Mr. Dawlatzai’s house collapsed on top of him, his family and his guests. A suicide truck bombing nearby left eight people in the house bloodied and battered, among them a 1-year-old boy, five women and a guest lacerated by flying glass as he prayed.

“What peace are you talking about?” Mr. Dawlatzai asked Tuesday, referring to Mr. Khalilzad.

Mr. Dawlatzai, 23, had the misfortune of living near Green Village, a fortified compound of foreign nationals that had been rocked by bombings in the past. The latest attack, on Monday night, destroyed or badly damaged dozens of nearby shops and homes, killing up to 30 people and wounding at least 100, security officials said. There was no immediate word on any casualties among residents of the compound.

It was the third time Mr. Dawlatzai’s home has been torn apart by a bombing aimed at Green Village, he said. He and his neighbors had had enough.

On Tuesday morning, hundreds of enraged residents surged through the streets, demanding that the foreigners in their midst vacate their neighborhood. Some protesters scaled a wall surrounding Green Village, setting fire to a guard tower and torching rows of armored SUVs in the compound’s parking area.

Orange flames shot up and plumes of black smoke twisted skyward. Some protesters burned tires, tossed flaming bottles of gasoline or threw rocks into the compound.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for Monday’s bombing, while also reaping the propaganda benefits of irate Afghans cursing and condemning foreigners. Even as the prospects for a peace deal improve, the Taliban have launched repeated attacks that kill and maim civilians — and underscore the Afghan government’s inability to protect its citizens.

A statement from the Taliban on Tuesday said the bombing was retaliation for attacks by American-backed government forces. It depicted the Taliban as protectors of Afghan civilians in the face of government and American “attacks on peoples’ villages and homes.”

“Those who criticize us for attacking Green Village must understand that there is a reaction to any action,” the statement said.

The latest attack on Green Village, which houses private security companies and contractors for nongovernmental organizations, left residents soured on a peace process some have never fully embraced. Many blamed the government.

“We’ve complained time and again to get this damn camp out of here because in each attack we suffer the most,” said Atiqullah, 30, whose forehead bore 20 stitches from lacerations inflicted when his home caved in.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/w...ghanistan.html



Related

Donald Trump's Afghanistan Peace Process 'Is Called Losing,' Fox News Analyst Says: 'We Completely Abandoned That Situation'
9/2/19

[Swordsmyth]

NYT is reporting a major bombing targetting fortified foreigners compound right after announcement of 'peace agreement':



https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/w...ghanistan.html



Related

Donald Trump's Afghanistan Peace Process 'Is Called Losing,' Fox News Analyst Says: 'We Completely Abandoned That Situation'
9/2/19

We lost when we decided to stay.
Nothing can stop the withdrawal.

[enhanced_deficit]

Nothing can stop the withdrawal.

Secretary of State Pompeo Declines to Sign Afghan Peace Deal

[Swordsmyth]

Secretary of State Pompeo Declines to Sign Afghan Peace Deal

Trump will sign it.

Nothing can stop the withdrawal.

[Warlord]

Another dead soldier in this sh*thole:

US service member killed in Kabul suicide car bomb attack

Washington (CNN)A US service member was killed in a suicide car bomb attack Thursday in Kabul, Afghanistan, at a checkpoint near NATO headquarters and the US embassy, a US military official with direct knowledge of the incident said.

Another service member from Romania also was killed, the NATO-led coalition announced in a statement.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/05/p...ber/index.html

[shakey1]

Secretary of State Pompeo Declines to Sign Afghan Peace Deal

He’s deep state... why does Trump insist on appointing these clowns?

[Warlord]

He’s deep state... why does Trump insist on appointing these clowns?

Pompeo and Bolton are holding up the deal while more soldiers die, It's a disgrace.

[Occam's Banana]

Pompeo and Bolton are holding up the deal while more soldiers die, It's a disgrace.

The buck for that stops with Trump. He appointed them.

[Warlord]

The buck for that stops with Trump. He appointed them.

They must be fired ASAP. I dont know what Trump is thinking. The neocons will destroy him and its electoral suicide. The people want peace.

[Swordsmyth]

On Friday U.S. envoy Khalilzad was back in the Qatari capital Doha, along with General Scott Miller, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, to continue talks with the Taliban, who said the meeting had gone well.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-chie...090305340.html

[enhanced_deficit]

Two NATO soldiers killed, 9 U.S. Special Forces soldiers evacuated with traumatic brain injuries

Army Paratrooper Killed in Afghanistan Identified
By Matt Keeley On 9/6/19

Sgt. Barreto was killed when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (IED) detonated on September 5 in a suicide attack. The attack also claimed the life of a Romanian soldier.
That attack led to another blast targeting the U.S. forces who responded to the initial explosion. This attack wounded at least nine U.S. Special Forces soldiers, some seriously. An anonymous Defense Department source told Newsweek that the nine soldiers had been medically evacuated with traumatic brain injuries.

https://www.newsweek.com/army-paratr...tified-1458163


Related

Double tap drone strikes

[enhanced_deficit]

Trump Says He’s Called Off Negotiations With Taliban After Afghanistan Bombing

By Michael Crowley, Lara Jakes and Mujib Mashal
Sept. 7, 2019

WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Saturday that he had canceled a secret meeting at Camp David with Taliban leaders and the president of Afghanistan and was calling off monthslong negotiations that had appeared to be nearing a peace agreement.
“Unbeknownst to almost everyone,” Mr. Trump wrote in a series of tweets, Taliban leaders and the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, were headed to the United States on Saturday for what would have been a politically fraught meeting at the president’s official Camp David retreat in Maryland.
But Mr. Trump said that “in order to build false leverage,” the Taliban had admitted to a suicide car bomb attack on Thursday that had killed an American soldier and 11 others in the capital of Kabul. “I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations,” he wrote.
“If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don’t have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway,” Mr. Trump added. “How many more decades are they willing to fight?”

The president’s announcement was startling for multiple reasons. A surprise summit at Camp David with leaders of an insurgent group that has killed thousands of Americans since the October 2001 invasion of Afghanistan would have been a sensational diplomatic gambit, on par with Mr. Trump’s meetings with the once-reclusive North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. A senior administration official said the meeting had been planned for Monday, just two days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which were plotted from Afghanistan and led to the United States’ invasion of the country.
Mr. Trump’s statement also appears to scuttle — for now — his longstanding hope to deliver on a campaign promise to withdraw American troops from an 18-year conflict that he has called an aimless boondoggle.

Several people familiar with the diplomacy between the Trump administration and the Taliban puzzled over Mr. Trump’s stated decision to cancel peace negotiations entirely in response to one American casualty, however tragic. The Taliban had not agreed to halt their attacks on Americans in advance of a formal agreement. That raised the question of whether Mr. Trump might have been looking for a pretext because the talks had run into trouble.
The development is sure to inflame a Washington political debate about the talks that until now had largely played out in national security circles to little public fanfare. Mr. Trump had been coming under growing pressure from conservatives not to hastily exit the country while many leading Democrats have said they support peace talks leading to an American withdrawal.

Many details of the scrapped Camp David meeting were unclear on Saturday night. The senior Trump administration official said that the decision to cancel the meeting had been made on Thursday, but that Mr. Trump had delayed his announcement. On Friday, Afghan officials confirmed that Mr. Ghani postponed a planned meeting in Washington. One person familiar with the diplomacy said that the plan for a Taliban visit to Washington had not been under discussion until about a week ago. (Taliban representatives have not yet confirmed that they ever planned to attend such a meeting.)

Mr. Khalilzad had proposed drawing down American military troops in exchange for a partial cease-fire by the Taliban. In a recent interview with the Afghan channel ToloNews, he said 5,400 United States forces would leave Afghanistan within 135 days of a signed agreement.

Under that tentative deal, the number of American troops would have initially been reduced to about what it was when Mr. Trump took office in 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/u...ghanistan.html












A tractor packed with explosives caused a massive blast in Kabul on September 3. Two days later, a similar attack in the city killed Sgt. Barreto and a Romanian soldier.
https://www.newsweek.com/army-paratr...tified-1458163

[Swordsmyth]

Trump Says He’s Called Off Negotiations With Taliban After Afghanistan Bombing

By Michael Crowley, Lara Jakes and Mujib Mashal
Sept. 7, 2019

WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Saturday that he had canceled a secret meeting at Camp David with Taliban leaders and the president of Afghanistan and was calling off monthslong negotiations that had appeared to be nearing a peace agreement.
“Unbeknownst to almost everyone,” Mr. Trump wrote in a series of tweets, Taliban leaders and the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, were headed to the United States on Saturday for what would have been a politically fraught meeting at the president’s official Camp David retreat in Maryland.
But Mr. Trump said that “in order to build false leverage,” the Taliban had admitted to a suicide car bomb attack on Thursday that had killed an American soldier and 11 others in the capital of Kabul. “I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations,” he wrote.
“If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don’t have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway,” Mr. Trump added. “How many more decades are they willing to fight?”

The president’s announcement was startling for multiple reasons. A surprise summit at Camp David with leaders of an insurgent group that has killed thousands of Americans since the October 2001 invasion of Afghanistan would have been a sensational diplomatic gambit, on par with Mr. Trump’s meetings with the once-reclusive North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. A senior administration official said the meeting had been planned for Monday, just two days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which were plotted from Afghanistan and led to the United States’ invasion of the country.
Mr. Trump’s statement also appears to scuttle — for now — his longstanding hope to deliver on a campaign promise to withdraw American troops from an 18-year conflict that he has called an aimless boondoggle.

Several people familiar with the diplomacy between the Trump administration and the Taliban puzzled over Mr. Trump’s stated decision to cancel peace negotiations entirely in response to one American casualty, however tragic. The Taliban had not agreed to halt their attacks on Americans in advance of a formal agreement. That raised the question of whether Mr. Trump might have been looking for a pretext because the talks had run into trouble.
The development is sure to inflame a Washington political debate about the talks that until now had largely played out in national security circles to little public fanfare. Mr. Trump had been coming under growing pressure from conservatives not to hastily exit the country while many leading Democrats have said they support peace talks leading to an American withdrawal.

Many details of the scrapped Camp David meeting were unclear on Saturday night. The senior Trump administration official said that the decision to cancel the meeting had been made on Thursday, but that Mr. Trump had delayed his announcement. On Friday, Afghan officials confirmed that Mr. Ghani postponed a planned meeting in Washington. One person familiar with the diplomacy said that the plan for a Taliban visit to Washington had not been under discussion until about a week ago. (Taliban representatives have not yet confirmed that they ever planned to attend such a meeting.)

Mr. Khalilzad had proposed drawing down American military troops in exchange for a partial cease-fire by the Taliban. In a recent interview with the Afghan channel ToloNews, he said 5,400 United States forces would leave Afghanistan within 135 days of a signed agreement.

Under that tentative deal, the number of American troops would have initially been reduced to about what it was when Mr. Trump took office in 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/u...ghanistan.html












A tractor packed with explosives caused a massive blast in Kabul on September 3. Two days later, a similar attack in the city killed Sgt. Barreto and a Romanian soldier.
https://www.newsweek.com/army-paratr...tified-1458163

Cancelling one meeting doesn't cancel the whole deal.

[enhanced_deficit]

Cancelling one meeting doesn't cancel the whole deal.

That is true, but following is POTUS statement:

“I immediately canceled the meeting and called off peace negotiations,” Trump added.



Hopefully that's not the case but this reporting suggests it's more than just cancellation of a meeting.

NYT reporting seems to be trying to score extra political mileage also by linking it to NK Peace Summit deal that had also come to an abrupt end:

The president’s announcement was startling for multiple reasons. A surprise summit at Camp David with leaders of an insurgent group that has killed thousands of Americans since the October 2001 invasion of Afghanistan would have been a sensational diplomatic gambit, on par with Mr. Trump’s meetings with the once-reclusive North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un

[Swordsmyth]

That is true, but following is POTUS statement:

“I immediately canceled the meeting and called off peace negotiations,” Trump added.



Hopefully that's not the case but this reporting suggests it's more than just cancellation of a meeting.

NYT reporting seems to be trying to score extra political mileage also by linking it to NK Peace Summit deal that had also come to an abrupt end:

Trump won't call them off permanently unless he is just going to unilaterally withdraw, we are going to leave whether he gets a deal or not.

[CCTelander]

Trump won't call them off permanently unless he is just going to unilaterally withdraw, we are going to leave whether he gets a deal or not.

Riiiiigghht. If there's anybody one should put such an inordinate level of faith in it's a politician, especially one who has aggressively sought and secured the most powerful political office on the face of the planet. What are you, mental?

[Swordsmyth]

Riiiiigghht. If there's anybody one should put such an inordinate level of faith in it's a politician, especially one who has aggressively sought and secured the most powerful political office on the face of the planet. What are you, mental?

Trump needs to be able to say he fulfilled his promise to get us out before Nov. 2020.

[Swordsmyth]

The United States and Afghanistan's Taliban on Sunday both left the door open to fresh talks after President Donald Trump abruptly canceled a secret summit, but the insurgents threatened to inflict greater costs.Washington also said it would not relent in fighting the militants after Trump blamed the scuttling of the unprecedented meeting on a Taliban attack that killed a US soldier.
Trump said he had invited Taliban leaders and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani for talks Sunday at the Camp David presidential retreat on a draft deal that would see the United States withdraw thousands of troops and wind down its longest-ever war.
In a series of television interviews, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did not rule out a return to talks but said the United States needed a "significant commitment" from the Taliban.
"I'm not pessimistic," Pompeo told NBC. "I've watched the Taliban do things and say things they've not been permitted to do before."
"I hope it's the case the Taliban will change their behavior, will recommit to the things that we've been talking to them about for months," he said on ABC.
"In the end, this will be resolved through a series of conversations," he added, urging the Taliban to drop their long-running refusal to negotiate with Ghani's internationally recognized government.
He said that Trump had not decided whether to go ahead with a withdrawal, which under the draft deal would pull 5,000 of the roughly 13,000 US troops from Afghanistan next year.

But Pompeo warned that the United States was "not going to reduce the pressure" on the Taliban, saying US forces had killed more than 1,000 insurgents in the past 10 days alone.


Veteran US negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad had spent a year meeting with the Taliban, who said that Trump showed "neither experience nor patience."
"Americans will be harmed more than any other" by Trump's decision, warned a statement by the group's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
But he added that the Taliban still believed "that the American side will come back to this position" of talks that seek "the complete end of the occupation."
The office of Ghani, whose government is rejected by the Taliban as illegitimate, cautiously saluted the "sincere efforts of its allies" after Trump called off the summit.
The Afghan presidency in a statement also insisted that "real peace can only be achieved if the Taliban stop killing Afghans and accept a ceasefire, and face-to-face talks with the Afghan government."


Islamabad, meanwhile, urged both sides to "re-engage to find (a) negotiated peace from the ongoing political settlement process."
"Pakistan looks for optimized engagement following (the) earliest resumption of talks," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/us-taliban-ke...152405240.html

[enhanced_deficit]

Afghan president unhurt as election rally/Kabul bombings kill 48 including 10 security forces

Blast kills 26 at Afghan election rally, aide says president unhurt


Sept. 17, 2019, 5:33 AM EDT
By Ahmed Mengli, Mushtaq Yusufzai, Saphora Smith and Reuters


KABUL — An explosion near an election rally attended by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani killed 26 people — including 4 security forces —and injured 42 others, local officials said, but Ghani was unhurt according to an aide.
Women and children were among the victims in the suicide attack in Parwan province, according to Nasrat Rahimi, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior who said at least 26 people were killed.
Ghani had been due to address the rally in Charikar, capital of Parwan province, north of Kabul, when the suspected militant attack occurred, a health official told Reuters.

"The president is unharmed," Ghani's aide told Reuters.
In a separate incident, a suicide bomber killed 22 people and injured 38 in the center of Kabul, Rahimi said. Six of the victims were military personnel, he added.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/b...nhurt-n1055191

Published 11 hours ago
US Army Green Beret killed in Afghanistan gun battle identified: 'He was a warrior'

Griffin first deployed to war with the 82nd Airborne to Iraq in 2006 before joining Special Forces in 2014. He was born in Cristobal, Panama on December 7, 1978.




Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy Griffin from Greenbrier, Tennessee, a Special Forces soldier was 41 and making his fourth combat deployment, three to Afghanistan since 2009, according to Lt. Col. Loren Bymer, U.S. Army Special Operations Command spokesman.

Sgt. 1st Class Griffin was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart.
Griffin is the 17th American killed this year in combat in Afghanistan. It’s the highest total in the past five years.

Today, there are roughly 14,000 U.S. troops on the ground in Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, President Trump announced he had canceled secret peace talks with top Afghan and Taliban officials at Camp David.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/army-g...tan-identified

[enhanced_deficit]

Trump says peace talks with Taliban are now ‘dead’

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. peace talks with the Taliban are now “dead,” President Donald Trump declared Monday, two days after he abruptly canceled a secret meeting he had arranged with Taliban and Afghan leaders aimed at ending America’s longest war.

Trump’s remark to reporters at the White House suggested he sees no point in resuming a nearly yearlong effort to reach a political settlement with the Taliban, whose protection of al-Qaida extremists in Afghanistan prompted the U.S. to invade after the 9/11 attacks.
Asked about the peace talks, Trump said: “They’re dead. They’re dead. As far as I’m concerned, they’re dead.”

https://www.apnews.com/bf2b42d5e86d466ab5f434d0f646bc72



Trump picks another neocon as new NSA to replace Bolton


an hour ago
The special envoy, Ambassador Robert O’Brien, was seen at Stockholm District Court in the morning. A biographical statement on the State Department’s website says O’Brien “leads the U.S. government’s diplomatic efforts on overseas hostage-related matters.”



Related

Blackwater: 'Don't Let Erik Prince Anywhere Near The War In Afghanistan'

[enhanced_deficit]

Anyone happens to have link to old Trump tweet where he had called then Prez Obama "stupid" for announcing Afghan exit plans in advance?

[Todd]

Meahwhile this administration continues to drone strike more "collateral damage".

U.S. drone strike kills 30 pine nut farm workers in Afghanistan

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-a...in Afghanistan

[enhanced_deficit]

Meahwhile this administration continues to drone strike more "collateral damage".

U.S. drone strike kills 30 pine nut farm workers in Afghanistan

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-a...in Afghanistan

Another day of similar news:


Afghan officials: 40 civilians killed in anti-Taliban raid

By RAHIM FAIEZ an hour ago
Afghans transport the body of a woman who was killed during a raid conducted by Afghan special forces, in the southern Helmand province, Monday, Sept. 23, 2019. An Afghan official said Monday that at least 40 civilians have been killed during an Afghan special forces raid and airstrikes conducted against of Taliban in southern Helmand province. (AP Photo/Abdul Hadi)

[enhanced_deficit]

'draft' is called draft for a reason, should have been finalized at the same time.

Now they have shredded the draft paper on which 'draft deal' was nade.

Now Dems starting impeachment drama in the middle of these non-negotiations would probably not matter.

[Swordsmyth]

A Taliban delegation and U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad have arrived in Islamabad in an effort to revive peace talks between the militant group and Washington, Dawn reported Oct. 2.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...an-peace-talks

[Swordsmyth]

A Taliban delegation met U.S. special representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad for more than an hour on Thursday, two sources told Reuters, the first known contact between the sides since U.S. President Donald Trump called off talks last month.

Two Taliban sources confirmed they viewed themselves as committed to the agreements reached in Doha and were disappointed when Trump pulled out of talks.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Taliban leader in Afghanistan said the delegation's visit to Pakistan was intended to revive negotiations to end the 18-year war.

A Pakistan government source said that Pakistan would do "whatever possible" to get stakeholders, including Russia and China, to meet and work on guarantees of any successful peace arrangement.
"The Taliban want all stakeholders like America, Russia, China...to sit together and give some guarantees that any deal done and signed wouldn't be backed out before they resume the negotiations,” he said, adding that Pakistan's government was also trying to ensure the Afghan government was included.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/1-taliban-del...073325191.html

[Swordsmyth]

BREAKING: Taliban officials have met in Pakistan with the top American diplomat who recently led peace negotiations with them – NYT
— News Breaking LIVE (@NewsBreaking) October 6, 2019

[Swordsmyth]

Hopes are rising for the resumption of the abandoned Taliban and US peace talks after eleven senior Taliban members were freed from prison in an exchange with three kidnapped Indian engineers.
Among those freed are two former provincial governors of the Taliban and Abdul Rashid Baluch, a notorious regional leader sentenced to 18 years imprisonment for trafficking opium.
The men were being held near Bagram air base outside Kabul.
It is believed American authorities must have given permission for the swap as Baluch was previously on their ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’ list.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/taliban-comma...183435755.html