Foreign troops to quit Afghanistan in 18 months under draft deal

[Swordsmyth]

(rant alert... it's Sunday.)


I am WATCHING this world alliance of sovereigns CONTINUOUSLY strengthen against, defy and outwit the empire.
Call them all 'commies' or 'reds' or 'socialists' or 'chicoms' or 'ruskies' or whatever supports or constrains ur world paradigm...
but they are NOT the same. (and will never BE so.)
India is not China... and will NEVER become so. Neither will Russia. Never. ever.

In FACT consider this:
the 2 LARGEST populations on the planet (both with rampant rural squalor)
have 2 DIFFERENT SYSTEMS of economics and governance.
'Communist' China
'Democratic/Capitalist' India

Which one has COMPLETELY outperformed the other across the last 2 decades?
(this is NOT an 'apologetic' for communism. put down yer flag haha.)

It's a legitimate question and simple.
The obvious 'answer' DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING.
I'm specifically talking about ECONOMICS.
Both will function with WHAT THEY WANT.
Who REALLY cares?

As far as Humanitarian abuses and 'shock' stories like 'organ trafficking etc'.
Both have their 'totalitarian' excesses and abuses. Both.
probably will NEVER change.
MUCH of it stems from the poverty (across centuries) and the 'cheapness' of 'life'.
PROSPERITY has a better chance of changing that....
again: who 'outperformed' who?

The '50s' model of 'saving the world' from (fill in the blank) is a fallacy.
shouting 'chicom'! 'chicom'! 'chicom'! or 'russia'! 'russia'! 'russia'!
will never work AGAIN.... against an informed American public (I hope.)

anyway... I don't want to live in China. I don't want to live in Russia. I don't want to live in India.
but...
I wish them ALL
success
against THAT which seeks to undermine, subvert and subjugate all the sovereigns and take over the fuccking planet.

I 'keep' it that simple.
back to the 'topic'....
Afghanistan will 'give' themselves to the coming alliance. Russia, China and Iran will be INVITED in. watch.

America first.

And that means leaving everyone else alone, it was never good for America to meddle with everyone else.
But it also means defending ourselves from all kinds of attacks including economic warfare. (defense NOT aggression labeled defense)

[Swordsmyth]

Dozens of Afghan political leaders attended a peace conference in neighboring Pakistan on Saturday to pave the way for further Afghan-to-Afghan dialogue.The conference is to be followed by meetings and working sessions over the next two days, all of which come in the run-up to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's visit to Pakistan next week.
Ghani, his political opponents and a broad swath of Afghan civil society have been holding meetings in recent days with the United States' special envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, who continues to press for talks between the Afghan government, the opposition and the Taliban.
There are no representatives of the Taliban at Saturday's conference, held near the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
However, attending the conference is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who struck a peace deal with Ghani's government and was taken off a U.S. terrorist list. That peace deal was touted as a blueprint for an agreement with the Taliban, although the insurgents dismissed Hekmatyar as a spent force with no military might.
Still, at the outset of Saturday's meeting, Hekmatyar urged his fellow Afghans to press for the Taliban's demand for a quick and full withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan.


Among the figures in attendance at Saturday's conference in Pakistan were the head of the Afghan government-sponsored high peace council, Mohammad Karim Khalili, as well as the leader of the powerful Jamiat-e-Islami political party, Ustad Atta Mohammad Noor, and a current presidential candidate, Haneef Atmar, who is a former national security adviser.
The event was backed by the Pakistani government and organized by two think tanks, the Lahore Center for Peace Research and the South Asian Strategic Stability Institute.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi opened the conference by saying his country will continue its efforts toward peace and stability in Afghanistan.
The Afghan leaders are also scheduled to hold a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan during their visit.
Also on Saturday, Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani arrived Islamabad on a two-day visit.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/afghan-leader...081200706.html

[Swordsmyth]

Upcoming peace talks between the United States and the Taliban will focus on working out a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan and on a Taliban guarantee militants won't plot attacks from Afghan soil, sources said on Monday.A seventh round of talks between the warring sides begins on Saturday in Qatar's capital of Doha, where U.S. and Taliban negotiators have been trying to hammer out a deal to end to the 18-year-long war since October.
"Once the timetable for foreign force withdrawal is announced, then talks will automatically enter the next stage," said Sohail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Doha.
"We don't need to wait for the completion of the withdrawal, both withdrawal and talks can move forward simultaneously."


Two other sources with knowledge of the talks said the sixth round in May ended with unease on both sides, but since then informal meeting had taken place to work out what can be agreed on.
The U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, has also held informal meetings with the Taliban leadership in Doha.
"Based on my recent visits to Afghanistan and Qatar, I believe all sides want rapid progress," Khalilzad said on Twitter.


In March, a draft agreement was reached on the withdrawal of foreign forces in exchange for a commitment by the Taliban to cut ties with militant groups such as al Qaeda.
A Taliban source said both sides were expecting some clarity and results on the prime issues in the new round talks.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/u-taliban-aim...110119417.html

[jmdrake]

That gets us out just under 20 years and it would never have happened with a Dem as president .

Obama pulled us out of Iraq and a LOT of republicans cried foul. Rand Paul, of course was an exception as was Ted Cruz who said that we should have left sooner. Trump was critical of the pullout. Which reminds me. We're still there.

https://www.apnews.com/ab00e32b094b4684a15ef55765d98311
BAGHDAD (AP) — President Donald Trump’s surprise trip to Iraq may have quieted criticism at home that he had yet to visit troops in a combat zone, but it has infuriated Iraqi politicians who on Thursday demanded the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

“Arrogant” and “a violation of national sovereignty” were but a few examples of the disapproval emanating from Baghdad following Trump’s meeting Wednesday with U.S. servicemen and women at the al-Asad Airbase.

Trips by U.S. presidents to conflict zones are typically shrouded in secrecy and subject to strict security measures, and Trump’s was no exception. Few in Iraq or elsewhere knew the U.S. president was in the country until minutes before he left.


But this trip came as curbing foreign influence in Iraqi affairs has become a hot-button political issue in Baghdad, and Trump’s perceived presidential faux-pas was failing to meet with the prime minister in a break with diplomatic custom for any visiting head of state.

On the ground for only about three hours, the American president told the men and women with the U.S. military that Islamic State forces have been vanquished, and he defended his decision against all advice to withdraw U.S. troops from neighboring Syria, He said the U.S. was once again respected as a nation, and declared: “We’re no longer the suckers, folks.”

The abruptness of his visit left lawmakers in Baghdad smarting and drawing unfavorable comparisons to the occupation of Iraq after the 2003 invasion.

“Trump needs to know his limits. The American occupation of Iraq is over,” said Sabah al-Saidi, the head of one of two main blocs in Iraq’s parliament.

Trump, he said, had slipped into Iraq, “as though Iraq is a state of the United States.”

While Trump didn’t meet with any officials, he spoke with Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi by phone. A planned meeting between the two leaders was canceled over a “difference in points of view” over arrangements, according to the prime minister’s office.

The visit could have unintended consequences for American policy, with officials from both sides of Iraq’s political divide calling for a vote in Parliament to expel U.S. forces from the country.

The president, who kept to the U.S. air base approximately 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Baghdad, said he had no plans to withdraw the 5,200 troops in the country. He said Ain al-Asad could be used for U.S. air strikes inside Syria.


The suggestion ran counter to the current sentiment of Iraqi politics, which favors claiming sovereignty over foreign and domestic policy and staying above the fray in regional conflicts.

“Iraq should not be a platform for the Americans to settle their accounts with either the Russians or the Iranians in the region,” said Hakim al-Zamili, a senior lawmaker in al-Saidi’s Islah bloc in Parliament.

U.S. troops are stationed in Iraq as part of the coalition against the Islamic State group. American forces withdrew in 2011 after invading in 2003 but returned in 2014 at the invitation of the Iraqi government to help fight the jihadist group. Trump’s visit was the first by a U.S. president since Barack Obama met with then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at a U.S. base outside Baghdad in 2009.

After defeating IS militants in their last urban bastions last year, Iraqi politicians and militia leaders are speaking out against the continued presence of U.S. forces on Iraqi soil.

Supporters of the populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr won big in national elections in May, campaigning on a platform to curb U.S. and rival Iranian involvement in Iraqi affairs. Al-Sadr’s lawmakers now form the core of the Islah bloc, which is headed by al-Saidi in Parliament.

The rival Binaa bloc, commanded by politicians and militia leaders close to Iran, also does not favor the U.S.

Qais Khazali, the head of the Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia that fought key battles against IS in northern Iraq, promised on Twitter that Parliament would vote to expel U.S. forces from Iraq, or the militias would force them out by “other means.”

Khazali was jailed by British and U.S. forces from 2007 to 2010 for managing sections of the Shia insurgency against the occupation during those years.

Trump’s visit would be a “great moral boost to the political parties, armed factions, and others who oppose the American presence in Iraq,” Iraqi political analyst Ziad al-Arar said.

Still, the U.S. and Iraq developed considerable military and intelligence ties in the war against IS, and they continue to pay off in operations against militants gone into hiding.

Earlier in the month, Iraqi forces called in an airstrike by U.S.-coalition forces to destroy a tunnel used by IS militants in the Atshanah mountains in north Iraq. Four militants were killed, according to the coalition.

A hasty departure of U.S. forces would jeopardize such arrangements, said Iraqi analyst Hamza Mustafa.

Relations between the U.S. and Iraq also extend beyond military ties. U.S. companies have considerable interests in Iraq’s petrochemical industry, and American diplomats are often brokers between Iraq’s fractious political elite.

Iraq’s Sunni politicians have been largely quiet about the presidential visit, reflecting the ties they have cultivated with the U.S. to counterbalance the might of the country’s Iran-backed and predominantly-Shiite militias.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Abdul-Mahdi accepted Trump’s invitation to the White House during their call, though the prime minister’s office has so far refused to confirm that.

[goldenequity]

Drexl Spivey
@RisboLensky
3 min.
Rally against Ghani'sStooge Govt. started in Kabul via @Metmaeen #Afghanistan

[Swordsmyth]

Obama pulled us out of Iraq and a LOT of republicans cried foul. Rand Paul, of course was an exception as was Ted Cruz who said that we should have left sooner. Trump was critical of the pullout. Which reminds me. We're still there.

https://www.apnews.com/ab00e32b094b4684a15ef55765d98311
BAGHDAD (AP) — President Donald Trump’s surprise trip to Iraq may have quieted criticism at home that he had yet to visit troops in a combat zone, but it has infuriated Iraqi politicians who on Thursday demanded the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

“Arrogant” and “a violation of national sovereignty” were but a few examples of the disapproval emanating from Baghdad following Trump’s meeting Wednesday with U.S. servicemen and women at the al-Asad Airbase.

Trips by U.S. presidents to conflict zones are typically shrouded in secrecy and subject to strict security measures, and Trump’s was no exception. Few in Iraq or elsewhere knew the U.S. president was in the country until minutes before he left.


But this trip came as curbing foreign influence in Iraqi affairs has become a hot-button political issue in Baghdad, and Trump’s perceived presidential faux-pas was failing to meet with the prime minister in a break with diplomatic custom for any visiting head of state.

On the ground for only about three hours, the American president told the men and women with the U.S. military that Islamic State forces have been vanquished, and he defended his decision against all advice to withdraw U.S. troops from neighboring Syria, He said the U.S. was once again respected as a nation, and declared: “We’re no longer the suckers, folks.”

The abruptness of his visit left lawmakers in Baghdad smarting and drawing unfavorable comparisons to the occupation of Iraq after the 2003 invasion.

“Trump needs to know his limits. The American occupation of Iraq is over,” said Sabah al-Saidi, the head of one of two main blocs in Iraq’s parliament.

Trump, he said, had slipped into Iraq, “as though Iraq is a state of the United States.”

While Trump didn’t meet with any officials, he spoke with Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi by phone. A planned meeting between the two leaders was canceled over a “difference in points of view” over arrangements, according to the prime minister’s office.

The visit could have unintended consequences for American policy, with officials from both sides of Iraq’s political divide calling for a vote in Parliament to expel U.S. forces from the country.

The president, who kept to the U.S. air base approximately 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Baghdad, said he had no plans to withdraw the 5,200 troops in the country. He said Ain al-Asad could be used for U.S. air strikes inside Syria.


The suggestion ran counter to the current sentiment of Iraqi politics, which favors claiming sovereignty over foreign and domestic policy and staying above the fray in regional conflicts.

“Iraq should not be a platform for the Americans to settle their accounts with either the Russians or the Iranians in the region,” said Hakim al-Zamili, a senior lawmaker in al-Saidi’s Islah bloc in Parliament.

U.S. troops are stationed in Iraq as part of the coalition against the Islamic State group. American forces withdrew in 2011 after invading in 2003 but returned in 2014 at the invitation of the Iraqi government to help fight the jihadist group. Trump’s visit was the first by a U.S. president since Barack Obama met with then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at a U.S. base outside Baghdad in 2009.

After defeating IS militants in their last urban bastions last year, Iraqi politicians and militia leaders are speaking out against the continued presence of U.S. forces on Iraqi soil.

Supporters of the populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr won big in national elections in May, campaigning on a platform to curb U.S. and rival Iranian involvement in Iraqi affairs. Al-Sadr’s lawmakers now form the core of the Islah bloc, which is headed by al-Saidi in Parliament.

The rival Binaa bloc, commanded by politicians and militia leaders close to Iran, also does not favor the U.S.

Qais Khazali, the head of the Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia that fought key battles against IS in northern Iraq, promised on Twitter that Parliament would vote to expel U.S. forces from Iraq, or the militias would force them out by “other means.”

Khazali was jailed by British and U.S. forces from 2007 to 2010 for managing sections of the Shia insurgency against the occupation during those years.

Trump’s visit would be a “great moral boost to the political parties, armed factions, and others who oppose the American presence in Iraq,” Iraqi political analyst Ziad al-Arar said.

Still, the U.S. and Iraq developed considerable military and intelligence ties in the war against IS, and they continue to pay off in operations against militants gone into hiding.

Earlier in the month, Iraqi forces called in an airstrike by U.S.-coalition forces to destroy a tunnel used by IS militants in the Atshanah mountains in north Iraq. Four militants were killed, according to the coalition.

A hasty departure of U.S. forces would jeopardize such arrangements, said Iraqi analyst Hamza Mustafa.

Relations between the U.S. and Iraq also extend beyond military ties. U.S. companies have considerable interests in Iraq’s petrochemical industry, and American diplomats are often brokers between Iraq’s fractious political elite.

Iraq’s Sunni politicians have been largely quiet about the presidential visit, reflecting the ties they have cultivated with the U.S. to counterbalance the might of the country’s Iran-backed and predominantly-Shiite militias.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Abdul-Mahdi accepted Trump’s invitation to the White House during their call, though the prime minister’s office has so far refused to confirm that.

We are still in Iraq.

[Swordsmyth]

Pompeo hopes for Afghan peace pact before Sept 1

[enhanced_deficit]

After they shot down US drone, Trump refused to attack Iran to avoid risk for 150 Iranian lives. That drilled another hole in fakenews narrative that Tump was racist.

Could he also announce abruptly to end Afghan war citing Afghan civilians being killed every day due to open-ended US funded war there without any clear purpose?



Afghan War Casualty Report: June 14-20

The site of a bombing in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on June 20, 2019.

The site of a bombing in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on June 20, 2019.CreditCreditGhulamullah Habibi/EPA, via Shutterstock
June 20, 2019
At least seven pro-government forces and seven civilians were killed in Afghanistan during the past week.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/m...une-14-20.html

[enhanced_deficit]

Sgt. James G. Johnston, 24, of Trumansburg, New York, and Master Sgt. Micheal B. Riley, 32, of Heilbronn, Germany, died June 25, 2019 of wounds from small arms fire in a battle with alleged Taliban enemy combatants in Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province.


2 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan day after Pompeo visits

June 26, 2019 / 1:50 AM / CBS/AP

In a file photo taken July 7, 2018, U.S. Army soldiers look on as U.S. flag flies at a checkpoint during a patrol against ISIS militants at the Deh Bala district in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar. Getty Kabul, Afghanistan -- The U.S. military said two service members were killed Wednesday in Afghanistan, but did not offer any details surrounding the circumstances of their deaths. The killings occurred a day after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a quick visit to the Afghan capital of Kabul where he said Washington was hopeful of a peace deal before Sept. 1.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/afghani...er-2019-06-26/

[Swordsmyth]

U.S. and Taliban officials will meet in Doha, Qatar, on June 29 for another round of talks aimed at finalizing an agreement to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan, Dawn reported June 28. The two sides are expected to discuss the details of a potential U.S. troop withdrawal and the Taliban's pledge to prevent Afghan territory from being used for transnational terrorist attacks, among other issues.

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

[Swordsmyth]

Taliban and U.S. negotiators are scrambling to finalize a draft agreement that will outline the withdrawal of American and NATO troops from Afghanistan and a verifiable Taliban guarantee to fight terrorism ahead of an all-Afghan peace conference Sunday. Officials familiar with the talks, but not authorized to speak about them, say negotiations went late into the night on Wednesday and throughout Thursday — the sixth day of direct talks between the insurgents and U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. They were to resume again on Friday.
Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Qatar, on Friday told The Associated Press on Friday he wanted to clarify that the draft agreement was being worked upon in an effort to finalize and was not being rewritten.
"By rewriting the draft agreement I meant (only) that we are working on the draft agreement," Suhail said Friday morning. Earlier he said "we have made some progress."
Previously he said agreed-upon clauses were being added to the agreement. On Thursday he also said the two sides had broadened their discussion, without elaborating.


Until now the two sides had been divided on the withdrawal timetable, with the United States seeking more time.
Taliban officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, earlier said the U.S. was seeking up to 18 months to complete a troop withdrawal even as U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News earlier this week that a withdrawal had already quietly begun and that troop strength had been cut to 9,000.

More at: https://www.stripes.com/us-taliban-s...rawal-1.588802

[Swordsmyth]

Rival Afghans will meet Sunday in Doha for a fresh round of talks mediated by Qatar and Germany, as the US eyes peace with the Taliban within three months.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/rushing-exits...031426789.html

[Swordsmyth]

U.S. and Taliban officials will reconvene on Tuesday to continue peace talks described as the "most productive session" by a top U.S. negotiator leading the discussions with the hardline Islamists group to end the Afghan war.The warring sides started a seventh round of peace talks last week, aiming to hammer out a schedule for the withdrawal of foreign troops in exchange for Taliban guarantees that international militant groups will not use Afghanistan as a base for launching attacks.
In a tweet on Saturday, U.S envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who has been holding peace talks with the Taliban to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan since last year, said the latest round of discussions were the "most productive session" to date.
He said substantive progress had been made on all four parts of a peace deal: counter-terrorism assurances, troop withdrawal, participation in intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations, and a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.


Both sides decided on Saturday to put the peace talks on hold for two days, to allow for a meeting between rival Afghan groups to be held in Qatar, Taliban and U.S. officials said.
U.S. officials are demanding a ceasefire agreement and a commitment on direct talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government before a peace deal is finalised.
Sohail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Qatar's capital, Doha, said the ‪U.S.-Taliban dialogue would resume after the two-day intra-Afghan conference.
A previously planned meeting between Afghan representatives in April collapsed before it started amid disagreement over the size of the proposed 250-strong Afghan delegation as well as over its status as a representative body.
This time, about 40 high-profile Afghan figures and activists will fly to Doha but will not have any official status -- a condition made necessary by the Taliban's refusal to deal directly with the Western-backed government in Kabul.
The Taliban have stressed that those attending the talks planned for Sunday and Monday will only do so in a "personal capacity."
A senior Taliban official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said ensuring the protection of the rights of women and minorities would be discussed in the Doha talks, which have been facilitated by German and Qatari officials.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/u-taliban-bre...145906495.html

[enhanced_deficit]

In the meantime, war violence rages on in the endless war:

12 Dead as Deadly Car Bombing Hits Key Afghan Security Facility in Ghanzi

By Ayaz Gul
July 7, 2019 01:50 AM

Afghan security personnel arrive at the site of a car bomb attack that targeted an intelligence unit in Ghazni, July 7, 2019.

A provincial health directorate spokesman, Mohammad Hemat, confirmed that Sunday’s blast killed at least 12 people, including civilians, and injured more than 180 others.
Mohammad Khalid Wardak, provincial police chief, told VOA that dozens of the wounded were students heading to schools when the attack happened.
A Taliban spokesman, while claiming responsibility for the bombing, said the powerful blast destroyed an important facility of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), inflicting heavy casualties.
Ghazni is the capital of the Afghan province with the same name and is on a main road linking northern and southern provinces. Many districts of Ghazni are controlled or strongly contested by the Taliban.
Attack in Kabul
Sunday’s bombing came just days after a group of Taliban fighters, including suicide bombers, stormed the engineering and logistics center of the Afghan Defense Ministry in the national capital, Kabul. That attack also began with a massive car bombing and killed around 30 people, mostly security forces.
Schoolchildren were also among dozens of people wounded there.
The Taliban in recent days has also increased battlefield assaults against Afghan security forces, reportedly killing around 300 of them over the past 10 days or so.

https://www.voanews.com/south-centra...acility-ghanzi

[jmdrake]

If Trump manages to pull off this pull out I will applaud him for that.

[Anti Globalist]

As long as we're still protecting poppy plants, we aren't leaving Afghanistan anytime soon.

[Swordsmyth]

The U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan wound up on Tuesday the seventh round of talks he has held with the Taliban in Qatar, after signs of progress in efforts to end the longest war the United States has ever fought.The U.S. envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, met Taliban officials briefly a day after a delegation of Afghan citizens and the militants agreed on a "roadmap for peace", in particular a joint call to end civilian casualties in the 18-year war.
"Khalilzad will now brief his bosses and they will make an announcement. The seventh round has ended," said a senior official privy to the talks.
The United States and the Taliban are getting closer to a deal that is expected to be centred on a U.S. promise to withdraw troops in exchange for a Taliban promise not to let Afghanistan be used as a base for terrorism, officials say.


Khalilzad, in a post on Twitter, said he was heading to China then back to Washington "to report and consult on the Afghan peace process". He did not elaborate.
Taliban officials were not immediately available for comment.
Senior Western officials and diplomats in Kabul who are privy to the talks, said the U.S. government was expected to make an announcement after a briefing from Khalilzad.
"The stage is now being set for a political settlement between the U.S. and the Taliban," said a senior western official who is privy to the negotiations.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/1-u-taliban-t...133620128.html

[Swordsmyth]

President Trump said Monday that he could easily end the war in Afghanistan by destroying the entire country, but it would result in 10 million deaths.
“We’re like policemen. We’re not fighting a war. If we wanted to fight a war in Afghanistan and win it, I could win that war in a week,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. “I just don’t want to kill 10 million people.”
The population of Afghanistan is around 35 million.
“I have plans on Afghanistan that if I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth. It would be gone, it would be over literally in 10 days.”


Throughout the press availability Trump continued to dwell on the longest war in U.S. history.
“If we wanted to, we could win that war. I have a plan that would win that war in a very short period of time,” Trump said, adding, “We’ve been in there not fighting. They’re building gas stations. They’re rebuilding schools. The United States, we shouldn’t be doing that. That’s for them to do.”


Trump recounted how the U.S. military dropped the most powerful nonnuclear bomb in its arsenal in Afghanistan in 2017 and suggested that the Pentagon had looked to use the weapon much more widely there.
“They were going to make many of them, and I said no,” Trump said.
High on Trump’s agenda with Khan was a request for Pakistan to help negotiate a truce between the Taliban and the Afghan government, so the U.S. could speed up the withdrawal of its troops.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/trump-boasts-...190412501.html

[Swordsmyth]

President Donald Trump voiced optimism on Monday that Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan could help broker a political settlement to end the nearly 18-year-old U.S. war in Afghanistan and held out the possibility of restoring aid to Islamabad."I think Pakistan is going to help us out to extricate ourselves," Trump said, with Khan sitting next to him at the start of a White House meeting.
Trump spoke of possibly restoring $1.3 billion in American aid that he had cut last year, depending upon the results of the meeting, and offered to mediate in the longstanding dispute between Pakistan and India over the Kashmir region.
The United States and Pakistan have a complicated relationship. Trump last year complained on Twitter that the Pakistanis "have given us nothing but lies & deceit" and "give safe haven" to militants. Pakistan has denied the accusations.
"They were really, I think, subversive. They were going against us," Trump said on Monday, adding that the U.S. relationship with Pakistan had improved.
Khan told Trump that a peace deal with the Taliban was closer than it had ever been.
"We hope that in the coming days we will be able to urge the Taliban to speak to the Afghan government and come to a settlement, a political solution," Khan said in the Oval Office meeting when reporters were present.
Trump wants to wrap up U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan and sees Pakistan's cooperation as crucial to any deal to end the war and ensure the country does not become a base for militant groups like Islamic State.
Washington wants Islamabad to pressure Afghanistan's Taliban into a permanent ceasefire and participation in talks with the Afghan government.
U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad will travel to Afghanistan and to Qatar, where he will resume talks with the Taliban, from July 22 to Aug. 1, the State Department said.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/1-trump-says-...164930484.html

[Occam's Banana]

President Trump said Monday that he could easily end the war in Afghanistan [...]

“If we wanted to fight a war in Afghanistan and win it, I could win that war in a week,” Trump told reporters [...]

“I have plans on Afghanistan that if I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth. It would be gone, it would be over literally in 10 days.”

[...]

“If we wanted to, we could win that war. I have a plan that would win that war in a very short period of time,” Trump said [...]

Yeah. Okay. Whatever.

(I'm sure everyone from Alexander the Great to the British Empire and the Soviets told themselves exactly the same sort of thing ...)

[Occam's Banana]

Gotta wrap up this thing in Afghanistan soon. America has more important fish Persians to fry ...

[enhanced_deficit]

“I just don’t want to kill 10 million people.”
The population of Afghanistan is around 35 million.
“I have plans on Afghanistan that if I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth. It would be gone, it would be over literally in 10 days.”
....
Trump recounted how the U.S. military dropped the most powerful nonnuclear bomb in its arsenal in Afghanistan in 2017 and suggested that the Pentagon had looked to use the weapon much more widely there.
“They were going to make many of them, and I said no,” Trump said.
High on Trump’s agenda with Khan was a request for Pakistan to help negotiate a truce between the Taliban and the Afghan government, so the U.S. could speed up the withdrawal of its troops.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/trump-boasts-...190412501.html

EM.

If this does not put fast track list for Nobel Peace prize (that was wrongly given to Obama), I don't know what else will.
This also reminded me of recent post involving same leaders and Nobel Peace prize prospects:

Trump & KJU names missing on CSM's Peace Prize list, S Korea's Moon & Pakistan's Khan on the list

Granted final result of NK de-nuclearization has not been achieved yet, all the efforts for two historic NKorea peace summits don't count?




A starting list for the Peace Prize

Four world leaders stand out so far this year, showing how peace is possible and natural.
March 5, 2019
By the Monitor's Editorial Board

These may be trying times for the Nobel committee. So many world leaders are standouts to win this year’s Peace Prize. In the midst of their particular crises, each one is trying different ways to prevent violence. Yet each can be held up as a model of peacemaking in process, worthy of a supportive award.

In South Korea, President Moon Jae-in took office in 2017 and soon opened a door to a North Korea that was escalating its missile and nuclear tests. His deft diplomacy laid the groundwork for the first summit between the United States and North Korea last June. With the apparent failure of a second summit last month, he again seeks peaceful engagement. Reconciliation between the two Koreas, he says, is the “driving force” to denuclearize North Korea.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in peaceful leadership – and most critical to the world – is Imran Khan. The former cricket star became Pakistan’s prime minister last year in a country where the military traditionally controls security policy.
In a goodwill gesture that suddenly changed the mood, Mr. Khan returned an Indian fighter pilot shot down inside Pakistan.
“Nobody wins in a war. Especially countries that have the sort of weapons that India and Pakistan possess should not even think of war...,” he said.


Not sure how Christian Science Monitor came up with this startling starting list.
Iit is stunning that any of these leaders did not make starting list :




but this guy did make the list:



Could anti-Trump media bias be at least partially responsible?
This is what NYMag published recently that can tarnish MAGA's pro-peace image:

https://pixel.nymag.com/imgs/daily/i....w330.h412.jpg

From: Will North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un win Nobel Peace Prize?

President Donald Trump voiced optimism on Monday that Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan could help broker a political settlement to end the nearly 18-year-old U.S. war in Afghanistan and held out the possibility of restoring aid to Islamabad."I think Pakistan is going to help us out to extricate ourselves," Trump said, with Khan sitting next to him at the start of a White House meeting.
Trump spoke of possibly restoring $1.3 billion in American aid that he had cut last year, depending upon the results of the meeting, and offered to mediate in the longstanding dispute between Pakistan and India over the Kashmir region.
...

EM.

Fakenews media trying to depict MAGA as a 'liar' again:


India Calls Out Trump Lie That He Was Asked To Mediate Kashmir Conflict
HuffPost
July 22, 2019
President Donald Trump spun a tale in front of reporters Monday that he was personally asked by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, to mediate the Kashmir conflict with Pakistan. But a spokesman for Modi quickly issued a statement that “no such request has been made.”
Trump raised the issue during a meeting with Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, in the White House while reporters listened.
“I was with Prime Minister Modi two weeks ago,” Trump recalled. “He actually said, ‘Would you like to be a mediator or arbitrator?’ I said, “Where?′ He said, ‘Kashmir.’ Because this has been going on for many, many years. I was surprised at how long it’s been going on,” Trump added, revealing his lack of knowledge about the history of the conflict.
Trump added: “I’d love to be a mediator.”
https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/trump...013622555.html

[Swordsmyth]

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan says militants may soon release two Western hostages as negotiations on a peace deal for Afghanistan make progress with his country's help.Khan, who was in the middle of a three-day U.S. visit Tuesday, has repeatedly said the men, an American and Australian, could be freed from the Taliban-linked militants who have held them for nearly three years.
"We will be giving you good news about the two hostages," Khan told President Donald Trump in their meeting Monday at the White House.
The prime minister did not mention them by name at the White House but in a later interview said he was referring to an American and an Australian kidnapped by the Taliban.
"Pakistan is playing its part," he told Fox News with Brett Baier. "And I think we're very close. We hope to give some good news in the next 48 hours."
In its ongoing negotiations with the Taliban, the U.S. has been pressing for the release of American Kevin King, 62, and Australian Timothy John Weeks, 50, of Sydney. It's unknown where King grew up in the United States, but the FBI said he speaks both English and Thai.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-pm-s...210526458.html

[shakey1]

If Trump manages to pull off this pull out I will applaud him for that.

Bring it on.

[enhanced_deficit]

While looking up another story, stumbled on this interesting report on Russian view regarding Afghanistan that had not been discussed in US media:


Russia: The solution to Afghanistan lies in Kashmir
23 July, 2019

[Swordsmyth]

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani agreed that it was time to "accelerate efforts" to end the war in Afghanistan, the State Department said on Thursday.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/pompeo-ghani-...165634363.html

[Swordsmyth]

The Taliban said it’s nearing a peace deal with the U.S. to bring an end to the foreign military presence in Afghanistan, though it ruled out a halt to hostilities for now.

“We are getting close,” Mohammad Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban’s Doha-based political office, said by phone on Thursday. If the U.S. makes “a reasonable and convincing proposal, the peace agreement will be concluded soon.”

More at: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...cid=spartandhp

[Swordsmyth]

President Donald Trump's envoy at the negotiating table says he's satisfied with the Taliban's commitment to prevent international terrorist organizations from using Afghanistan as a base to plot global attacks. There's even talk that a negotiated settlement might result in the Taliban joining the U.S. to fight Islamic State militants, rivals whose footprint is growing in mountainous northern Afghanistan.
"The world needs to be sure that Afghanistan will not be a threat to the international community," said the envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, who was born in Afghanistan and is a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. "We are satisfied with the commitment that we have received (from the Taliban) on counterterrorism."


Khalilzad hasn't specifically said why he's satisfied with the Taliban's guarantee that it will prevent attacks from being plotted on Afghan soil. He says only that the "U.S. military withdrawal will be linked to the commitments the Taliban are making."
Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Doha, Qatar, said such guarantees will be written into law once U.S. and NATO troops leave the country.
"After withdrawal of foreign troops from the country and formation of a new Islamic government, legislation will be made that no one can use the soil of Afghanistan against U.S. and its allies," Shaheen said.
John Dempsey, senior adviser in the State Department's Bureau for South and Central Asia, said Khalilzad not only has been given assurances from the Taliban but also is discussing ways the U.S. will be able to verify them.
"He's not going into the discussions naively and taking them at their word," Dempsey said. "He's in discussions on putting in place verification and enforcement and implementation guarantees. We're not there yet."

Dempsey said that by Sept. 1, the U.S. wants to resolve the issue about terrorist groups using Afghanistan to plot attacks and wants to draft a timeline for withdrawing troops. That agreement would allow more progress to be made in ongoing talks between the Taliban and Afghans.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/taliban-vows-...042549118.html

[Swordsmyth]

An Afghan official says the government will hold its first-ever direct talks with the Taliban, with the meeting expected within the next two weeks.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/afghan-offici...054918881.html

[Swordsmyth]

An Afghan official said Sunday that the government would hold its first-ever direct talks with the Taliban within two weeks, but the insurgents quickly denied any such meeting was planned and reiterated their opposition to negotiating with government representatives in their official capacity.The Taliban have been holding peace talks with the United States for nearly a year but have refused to recognize the Kabul government, viewing it as an American puppet.
Abdul Salam Rahimi, Afghanistan's state minister for peace affairs, said that a 15-member government delegation will meet with the Taliban in Europe, without elaborating.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said "there has been no agreement on such a meeting and that has not been coordinated with Taliban." He said that once the insurgents reach an agreement with the U.S., they would be open to intra-Afghan talks, but any government representatives would have to participate in a personal capacity.
U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who is currently visiting Kabul, appears to share that position. He tweeted that another round of "intra-Afghan" talks would occur "after we conclude our own agreements." He said it would include the Taliban and "an inclusive and effective national negotiating team consisting of senior government officials, key political party representatives, civil society and women."

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/afghan-offici...054918881.html