I'm no expert but...

[Ohioboy]

it sure looks like Trump and Pompeo undermined the Afghan Government by making a deal with the Taliban. We spent 20 years fighting the Taliban and training Afghan Government forces only to have Trump make a deal with the very enemy of the Afghan Government? That does not make sense. It's no wonder the Taliban began brokering surrenders. It totally legitimatized the Taliban at the expense of the Afghan Government. And to top it off we had Trump and Pompeo making a "peace deal" without even including the Afghan Government.

Like I said, I'm no expert, but Trump and Pompeo's deal with the Taliban seems to be a big part of why the Taliban are now the victors in Afghanistan.

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/568154-trumps-deal-with-the-taliban-set-the-stage-for-the-afghan-collapse

[pwb]

1. Yep.

Like here take that with you.

[GoCubsGo]

2. Yep, and since this happened after the election,

they also likely did it to booby-trap any efforts the incoming Biden administration to follow through on the agreement.

[RVN VET71]

19. The media seem not to give a damn about the booby-trap.

No, I’ll change that. They know about the booby-trap but don’t want to report on it because there’s more money to be made feeding faux outrage about Biden’s “mishandling” of the withdrawal of Americans. Besides, most of the media outlets, the big ones, are beholding to the plutocracy and more than willing to offer it all the support and useful airtime they can muster.

I will never forget that when Scott Ritter exposed the lies of the Cheney/Bush administration, the media focused not on his experience in military intelligence or his position with the international team of weapons inspectors sent to Iraq by the U.N., but on his personal problems.

[secondwind]

3. By excluding the former President, the delegitimized him and

strengthened the Taliban. A real shit show from beginning to end.

[Ohioboy]

5. I'm thinking Biden had no choice but cut America's loses and follow through

After the Taliban had already brokered enough surrenders it was probably impossible to reverse what was happening.

[Eliot Rosewater]

4. Of course they did and while this will get innocent people killed, 74 million Americans dont care

[DanieRains]

6. TFG Surrendered To The Taliban

And sabotaged the Afghan Government

That should be the story line.

The take over was planned far in advance.

Biden had to have known, but most likely didn't think the fall was going to be this fast.

[Ohioboy]

7. The fall was fast because of TFG's surrender

The more I learn about this whole thing, the more I'm convinced Biden was between a rock and a hard place that TFG created.

[chowder66]

8. They also blocked Biden and team from receiving intelligence briefings.

They purposely put Biden on his back heel about Afghanistan and Covid.

[luvs2sing]

9. And the new guy in power..

the one TFG got released from prison..every time I think of him, I hear TFG saying, “I would like for you to do me a favor, though”.

[uponit7771]

10. Putin and Saudis are happy

[Rebl2]

11. Yes indeed

Why isn’t MSM talking about that? I think we know why.

[PJMcK]

12. I think you're an expert

You show more logic and cogent thinking than the so-called experts.

Well done.

[FakeNoose]

13. I don't see anybody mentioning this ...

... but Chump made this deal with the Taliban exactly the way Pootie wanted it. Pootie needs to get his oil to the warm-water port on the Black Sea. He can't build a pipeline while those pesky Taliban are fighting a war. Pootie is the clear winner on this deal.

[former9thward]

14. Democrats did not criticize the deal. Biden did not criticize it.

The Afghan government refused to meet in the same room with the Taliban. If President Biden didn't like the deal he could have gotten rid of it on Jan. 20th just as he did with other Trump orders. The deal was not a law or treaty. What Biden did was to extend the deal a few months. That is it.

I would like to know what people think should have been done differently to get us out of this forever war. And why was there no criticism at the time? It was covered in all the media.

[Ohioboy]

15. But consider this:

After Trump had made the deal, the Taliban took it seriously and started brokering surrenders. This changed the dynamic, and Biden was left with little choice but cut his loses. What are you going to do after the Taliban had for months been changing the dynamic? To me it would seem either back out of the agreement which would have meant a fight, or cut the loses and get out.

I think sticking with an idea of emboldening the Afghan Government instead of the Taliban would have been a better choice for getting out. That way the Afghan forces wouldn't have been pre surrendered to the Taliban. That's my opinion.

[former9thward]

21. We spent 20 years trying to embolden the Afghan government.

All presidents during that time period failed to do that. Obama tried his "surge' -- which Biden opposed -- and that failed. The president of the US is not powerless. Biden could have changed things if he wanted. He knew it was hopeless and pulled out.

[Steelrolled]

16. Same thing happened in Vietnam.

The Afghan government really had no say, so to involve them would have just been a hindrance - the US and the Taliban were the players.

[Dan]

17. Trump, the business man - would screw up a wet dream.

[joetheman]

18. You win the day! nt

[crickets]

20. K&R for the post and the discussion.

[Poiuyt]

22. Trump undermined his own deal

He released 5000 Taliban prisoners and announced that the US was leaving the country before the conditions of the deal were met. His tweets that he was reducing troop levels removed any incentive for the Taliban to fulfill their end of the bargain.

Trump relentlessly, cluelessly sabotaged peace talks, proclaiming his determination to pull out, and unexpectedly announcing troop reductions. His tweets became a major obstacle to negotiations, as he declared he was withdrawing US forces, the only leverage of US negotiators, without obtaining any real concessions from the Taliban.

In February 2020, Trump unveiled an agreement with the Taliban. The deal was an utter embarrassment, one of the worst ever negotiated by an American president. Under its terms, the United States not only agreed to withdraw by May 2021, it also committed itself to obtaining the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners, and another thousand in subsequent months, fortifying the Taliban's fighting force. The US also promised to help lift all international sanctions against the Taliban.

In exchange, the Taliban promised not to attack Americans until they left, and agreed to start talks with the Afghan government.

The supposed negotiations with Afghan representatives went nowhere, but the Americans started leaving. Trump kept tweeting he was pulling out the troops, removing any incentive for the Taliban to compromise.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/17/opinions/buck-stops-with-biden-but-trump-role-in-afghanistan-a-doozy-ghitis/index.html

[Ohioboy]

23. This is the problem with having a narcissist as president

Trump thought he was going to be a big hero by making a "deal". He's the best at making deals, ya know.

Unfortunately, foreign policy is not the same as making a real estate deal.