Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group's top political leader, third from left, arrives with other members of the Taliban delegation for talks in Moscow, Russia

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group's top political leader, third from left, arrives with other members of the Taliban delegation for talks in Moscow, Russia Associated Press

Once Again, Trump Lurches to End a War, But Troops Remain

The collapse of talks with the Taliban raises questions about the president’s willingness to bring troops home from costly engagements overseas.

President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to cancel peace negotiations with the Taliban has thrown the uncertainty of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan into stark relief and raised questions about the president’s commitment to his own avowed mission to bring troops home from costly engagements overseas.

The Trump administration for months has signaled that peace negotiations with the Taliban were nearing their final days, with U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad publicly saying that a deal had been reached “in principle” that would jumpstart a conditioned American withdrawal. And in recent weeks, Trump has signaled an increased interest in the talks, repeatedly deriding the 20-year combat mission as a mere “police” operation unworthy of U.S. military involvement. 

Now, after a hasty attempt to intervene personally with Taliban leaders and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at Camp David fell apart, the president tweeted that he had “called off peace negotiations” with the Taliban. On Monday, Trump blamed a car bombing in Kabul last week that killed an American service member for his decision to end the talks. (Sgt. 1st Class Elis A. Barreto Ortiz was the sixteenth American to die in Afghanistan in 2019 as negotiations have been ongoing.) 

“They're dead. They're dead. As far as I’m concerned, they’re dead,” Trump said Monday of the talks. “They thought that they had to kill people in order to put themselves in a little better negotiating position… You can’t do that with me.”

Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, told reporters traveling with him to Afghanistan on Monday that the military is now likely to accelerate “a full spectrum” of operations against the Taliban, saying that “whatever targets are available, whatever targets can be lawfully and ethically struck, I think we're going to pursue those targets.”

The stunning reversal is not the first time Trump has walked up to the brink of a significant withdrawal from a counterterrorism campaign, only for the effort to combust with uncertain implications under pressure from the Washington security establishment. In December, he shocked Washington when he announced what many of his senior military leaders, including then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, thought was a premature U.S. withdrawal from Syria. Troops would come home “immediately,” Trump said. Nine months later, there are still 1,000 U.S. ground troops at any given time in Syria, with fresh faces revolving in and out from the substantial American presence at bases in neighboring Iraq and other countries, and air strikes continuing to hit ISIS targets. 

Trump, who campaigned on ending America’s wars and has called the lengthy mission in Afghanistan “ridiculous,” often expresses his desire to bring the roughly 14,000 troops stationed there home. But convinced by advisors in the early days of his presidency to increase troop levels, Trump has since sent mixed signals by both complaining about the U.S. role and boasting that he could “win” the war in a week with a nuclear weapon but that he did not want to “kill 10 million people."

The apparent tension between the president’s rhetoric and his policies committing troops to war have frustrated his critics, including military veterans in Congress.

“We’ve been at war in Afghanistan for 18 years—the longest war in U.S. history. Nearly three of those years have been under President Trump. If he wanted to bring our troops home, he could. He doesn’t want to. It’s that simple. The rest is just political theater,” tweeted Rep. Justin Amash, I-Mich., a frequent critic of the president who defected from the Republican Party this summer. 

The idea of a peace deal with the Taliban has been deeply controversial. Former officials and lawmakers of both parties have raised fears that it would trade a short-term political victory for the president while doing nothing to prevent another 9/11-type attack on the United States. 

Since Saturday, the Trump administration has offered contradictory statements in response to questions about the future of the 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on five Sunday talk shows said that talks were dead “for the time being.” A top Pentagon spokesman on Monday told reporters that the military is continuing to support an effort towards a negotiated settlement to end the 18-year conflict.

“We’re going to provide State Department as much maneuver space as possible for them to negotiate a successful settlement,” said Jonathan Hoffman, who declined to answer questions about any possible troop withdrawals. “I’m not going to get ahead of any agreement that’s taking place or any agreement that’s being negotiated.”

He reiterated the longstanding Pentagon position that “the only peaceful end to the conflict in Afghanistan is going to be a political solution” involving “the Taliban and the current Afghan government coming together and sitting down.”

Trump told reporters at the White House Monday that, “We'd like to get out but we'll get out at the right time.”

The proposed deal with the Taliban called for a gradual withdrawal of American troops, with about 5,000 coming home within six months, in exchange for assurances from the Taliban not to allow al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups a safe haven to plan external attacks on the United States. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford said last month he was assured that whatever reduction the president determined, U.S. forces would be able to fulfill their counterterrorism mission. Trump has been under fierce pressure even from Republican allies, like Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who believe that the Taliban can’t be trusted to uphold its end of the bargain. 

“In the best case, we would maintain a long term military presence in order to deter the Taliban from trying to take over and in order to be able to collect intelligence on al-Qaeda and ISIS, and we would view it politically as exactly the same as keeping troops in Western Europe during the Cold War, and in South Korea as we have for a very, very long time.” said Michael Morell, a former deputy and acting director of the CIA and host of the intelligence podcast “Intelligence Matters.”

“In my mind, the choice of trusting the Taliban is not realistic.” 

To some analysts who supported Khalilzad’s efforts to broker a deal with the Taliban worry that Trump’s tweets increase the chances that he will try to pull the plug on Afghanistan in the same way that he announced a withdrawal from Syria — abruptly and with no conditions.  National Security Advisor John Bolton has advised him that he can pull out 5,000 troops without an agreement. To others, it’s a signal that the war will continue to grind on. “How many more decades are they willing to fight?” Trump tweeted Saturday. 

There is a third option, some analysts say. 

Johnny Walsh, an Afghanistan analyst with the United States Institute of Peace and a former lead advisor on the Afghan peace process in the Department of State, called the tweets “a serious blow to the peace process but not necessarily a fatal one.” 

“If the U.S. administration decides that it would like to return to the negotiating table to finalize the deal, I read the Taliban statements since Saturday night as signalling openness to that,” he said. 

In other words, the whole episode since Saturday night could evaporate into the ether of a news-saturated Washington — essentially turning back the clock to Saturday morning. 

"We're going to make some decisions, I think, back in our nation's capital over the next few days and that will give us increased guidance going ahead," McKenzie said Monday. 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.