"Crossroads Afghanistan: Alternatives to a Forlorn Deal" Topic

"In Afghanistan, the United States has reached a strategic crossroads. On the current path, bilateral negotiations with the Taliban are considered a means of withdrawing the American military presence while securing long-term security interests. However, due to the Taliban's refusal to end violence against the Afghan state and the group's continued cooperation with transnational terrorist organizations, this desired outcome is unlikely.

An alternative path would require American policy makers to acknowledge the Taliban will never accept a political compromise so long as an American withdrawal can deliver the group a military victory. As the United States intends its presence to be temporary, denying a Taliban military victory can only be achieved by enhancing the security capability of the Afghan state and continuing the advisory mission. This path has definitive merits. The 2014 shift to an advisory focus has sped the development of important Afghan assets, such as special operations, aviation, and local holding forces. If these gains can be consolidated they offer a means to securing greater Afghan self-sufficiency and compelling the Taliban to accept an intra-Afghan political settlement. An American withdrawal without further development of Afghan security forces, by contrast, would empower extremists, degrade international security, and invite humanitarian catastrophe…"
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Amicalement
Armand

"As the United States intends its presence to be temporary, denying a Taliban military victory can only be achieved by enhancing the security capability of the Afghan state and continuing the advisory mission".

That is a false premise.

We could also win if our leaders and "allies" (I use the latter term very loosely) will go in and root out the Talis from their home bases in Pakistan. We know who, and where they are in many cases, including those in various positions in Pakistan's government, military, and intelligence services.

Some have said they'd do just that, and then did nothing. They know where they are, but lack the spine of our WWII leaders to go in and get the job done, thus prolonging the war, and permitting more casualties than would otherwise be necessary to occur.

You can't wipe out a hornet's nest by killing the individual pests far from their homes. One needs to go to the root of the problem, and wipe it out there, instead, once and for all.

Much of the possibilities of have new "allies" died when the Kurds were abandoned to their fate….

Amicalement
Armand