EditorialTalks only way to Afghanistan peace
- Mediation and dialogue can lay the foundations of goodwill and understanding required for lasting stability in troubled country
Afghanistan defeated the Soviet Union, and has sucked the United States into its longest war at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars.
A peace deal with Taliban insurgents that would enable withdrawal of remaining American troops has considerable appeal to President Donald Trump as a vote-winner ahead of his re-election bid next year. Moreover it would be in keeping with his promise to end America’s endless wars.
In recent weeks, US and Taliban negotiators had apparently set the scene for a deal by ironing out most of their issues in a series of meetings in Doha, including gradual troop withdrawals and counterterrorism assurances.
In Trump’s talks with his foreign policy advisers, he apparently proposed meeting Taliban representatives and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani last weekend at Camp David, the presidential mountain retreat. The venue and secrecy were controversial. Trump’s tweets about what happened next speak for themselves.
“Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders were going to secretly meet me at Camp David,” he wrote.
“Unfortunately … they admitted to an attack in Kabul that killed one of our soldiers and 11 other people. I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations. What kind of people would kill so many to seemingly strengthen their bargaining positions?”