February 1, 2021: Taliban Fails to Live Up to Agreement "Crafted" by Trump Administration

 

February 1, 2021: We all know the Republicans aren’t going to show any guts, once the second impeachment trial of Rejected-President Trump commences. Still, it’s telling that the president’s first team of five lawyers up and quit.

 

He wanted them to base his defense on the “stolen-election myth.” They refused. He had a hissy fit.

 

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Combat missions for the U.S. have ended.

 

Driving a wedge between the government and the Afghan people.

 

IN ONE of the least surprising developments possible, the Pentagon announces that final withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan may not go forward. The holdup is the failure of the Taliban to adhere to the agreement worked out under the brilliant, guiding hand of Art of the Deal Don.

 

Again, diplomacy is always hard, even though the Reject-President never managed to grasp that concept. He’s not to be blamed for all or even most of the failures of the agreement, or the bloody path the Taliban tracks. It’s fair game, however, to mock him for boasting about how he made America “respected again.”

 

The new Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, announced last week that the U.S. was still committed to the agreement, which would bring all our troops home in May. “The Taliban have not met their commitments,” however. “Without them meeting their commitments to renounce terrorism and to stop the violent attacks on the Afghan National Security Forces, and by dint of that the Afghan people, it’s very hard to see a specific way forward for the negotiated settlement.”

 

Examples of mayhem abound. A NATO report found that between October 1-December 31, Taliban-inspired terror attacks killed 810 civilians and wounded 1,776. Afghan special forces were forced to increase their ground attacks as 2020 drew to a close. U.S. airstrikes also increased in support. On January 17, two female judges were ambushed and shot dead in Kabul. Saturday, January 30, a suicide bomber drove a vehicle into a base for Afghan security forces and blew him- or herself up, along with eight security officers.

 

On a more positive note, only four U.S. servicemen were killed in hostile action in Afghanistan in 2020. Five more died in accidents. The last two U.S. soldiers killed as a result of hostile action were shot by a member of the Afghan forces who turned on them. Sgt. First Class Antonio Rey Rodriguez and Sgt. First Class Javier Jaguar Gutierrez, both died last February 8.

 

Again, you can’t blame Trump for this mess, but you can for his cluelessness. The Taliban is still the Taliban, and still has ties to Al Qaeda. The Afghan government might not be as blood thirsty; but money sticks to corrupt official’s fingers like burrs on horse tail. As the Associated Press notes, “Corruption is rampant…driving a wedge between the government and much of the population, frustrating international donors, and contributing to a poverty level in the country of more than 72%, according to the World Bank.”

 

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WHERE DO WE STAND on the international stage today? The President of Ukraine, February 1, 2021: We all know the Republicans aren’t going to show any guts, once the second impeachment trial of Rejected-President Trump commences. Still, it’s telling that the president’s first team of five lawyers up and quit.

 

He wanted them to base his defense on the “stolen-election myth.” They refused. He had a hissy fit.

 

*

 

Driving a wedge between the government and the Afghan people.

 

IN ONE of the least surprising developments possible, the Pentagon announces that final withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan may not go forward. The holdup is the failure of the Taliban to adhere to the agreement worked out under the brilliant, guiding hand of Art of the Deal Don.

 

Again, diplomacy is always hard, even though the Reject-President never managed to grasp that concept. He’s not to be blamed for all or even most of the failures of the agreement, or the bloody path the Taliban tracks. It’s fair game, however, to mock him for boasting about how he made America “respected again.”

 

The new Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, announced last week that the U.S. was still committed to the agreement, which would bring all our troops home in May. “The Taliban have not met their commitments,” however. “Without them meeting their commitments to renounce terrorism and to stop the violent attacks on the Afghan National Security Forces, and by dint of that the Afghan people, it’s very hard to see a specific way forward for the negotiated settlement.”

 

Examples of mayhem abound. A NATO report found that between October 1-December 31, Taliban-inspired terror attacks killed 810 civilians and wounded 1,776. Afghan special forces were forced to increase their ground attacks as 2020 drew to a close. U.S. airstrikes also increased in support. On January 17, two female judges were ambushed and shot dead in Kabul. Saturday, January 30, a suicide bomber drove a vehicle into a base for Afghan security forces and blew him- or herself up, along with eight security officers.

 

On a more positive note, only four U.S. servicemen were killed in hostile action in Afghanistan in 2020. Five more died in accidents. The last two U.S. soldiers killed as a result of hostile action were shot by a member of the Afghan forces who turned on them. Sgt. First Class Antonio Rey Rodriguez and Sgt. First Class Javier Jaguar Gutierrez, both died last February 8.

 

Again, you can’t blame Trump for this mess, but you can for his cluelessness. The Taliban is still the Taliban, and still has ties to Al Qaeda. The Afghan government might not be as blood thirsty; but money sticks to corrupt official’s fingers like burrs on horse tail. As the Associated Press notes, “Corruption is rampant…driving a wedge between the government and much of the population, frustrating international donors, and contributing to a poverty level in the country of more than 72%, according to the World Bank.”

 

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WHERE DO WE STAND on the international stage today? The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, called the Capitol Hill riot a “strong blow” to U.S. democracy. “I could not imagine that something like this was possible in the United States of America,” he said in an interview this week. In the wake of the events on January 6, he told a reporter, “I believe it would be very difficult for the world to see the United States as a symbol of democracy in the world.”, called the Capitol Hill riot a “strong blow” to U.S. democracy. “I could not imagine that something like this was possible in the United States of America,” he said in an interview this week. In the wake of the events on January 6, he told a reporter, “I believe it would be very difficult for the world to see the United States as a symbol of democracy in the world.”