4 years ago
1
U.S. Signs Peace Deal With Taliban After Nearly 2 Decades Of War In Afghanistan
The U.S. and the Taliban have struck a deal that paves the way for eventual peace in Afghanistan. U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad and the head of the militant Islamist group, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, signed the potentially historic agreement Saturday in Doha, Qatar, where the two sides spent months hashing out its details.
Continue Reading
https://www.npr.org
Join the Discussion
I was a young, unattached man when this war started; my oldest son is now almost as old as I was back then
there are generations of Afghans who grew up in the midst of this war; some born into it
after two decades of violent conflict, there’s nothing like a peace talks summit - organized and facilitated, mind you, by the withdrawing and occupying force - to heal all wounds, right all wrongs and solve all problems which caused the violence to erupt in the first place
I hope the best for the Afghans but given the much-disdained facts of the matter, I fear the worst for them
I suppose I’m just a cynical old person who should be grateful for and positive about everything
especially given how nobody could foresee any of the events of the last 20 years unfolding beforehand (it’s not like there were any historical presidents for western invasions into Afghanistan or indeed for US involvement in land wars in Asia)
so long as lessons are learned, progress is being made and whatever the cost may be is at least not in vain
and I suppose we might look at it from the POV that Afghanistan and the rest of the world owes a big debt of gratitude to US DoD for trying their goshdarn hardest to bring peace, justice and freedom to Afghanistan at a low, low price of a trillion dollars and mere hundreds of thousands of lives
and let’s not forget the American people: a big thanks to them for cheering their government on every step of the way on this road to prosperity, in the name of righteous retribution
mishun accomplished!
if, that is, the mission was to destabilize the region, lose international credibility, leave a gaping hole for China and Russia, and put the Taliban exactly where they were twenty years ago
call me pragmatic, but you could have instead done nothing, saved a trillion dollars in the process and landed up with the same, exact outcome (minus the death and destruction, of course)
on a side note - how’s everything in Syria? has anybody at the US DoD proposed leaving Assad right where he is and pulling out now?
could save a couple of trill and that’s where he will land up being in ten years in any case
just asking for a friend cuz - ya’know... y’all have a rep ‘s all im sayin’