Quick Take | Taliban ceasefire talks: Trump’s need to ‘bring boys home’ risks wasting lives already lost
- As representatives meet to discuss an end to the 17-year war in Afghanistan, care must be taken to ensure the lives and almost US$1 trillion that have been expended in the war on terror have not been wasted
Concurrently, the US Central Command Chief General Joseph Votel met Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, with the talks confirming that the Afghan peace process was “high on the agenda”. The Pakistani daily Dawn then reported the US was considering the offer of a free-trade agreement in exchange for Islamabad’s help in talks with the Taliban.
Does this latest of flurry of activity mean that the end of a foreign military presence in Afghanistan is in sight? The signals are mixed and contradictory at this point.
Even while the Taliban claims the US is accepting of its demand to pull out troops, Washington’s envoy Zalmay Khalilzad added a caveat when he noted military pressure was essential to creating the conditions for the peace negotiations with the Taliban, and promised the US would maintain the security support it is providing to Afghan security forces.