US, Taliban reach Afghan truce agreement. Could lead to withdrawal of US forces!

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Trump will sign the peace treaty right after the Taliban do him a favor and announce their investigation into Bloomberg's shady deals from the lobby of Trump Tower Kabul.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

It didn't come easy or free, but the Taliban is know bending it's knee to Trump. Not Bush, Not Obama, TRUMP.

Please. Have some dignity.

The Taliban aren't bending the knee - they're biding their time before celebrating their victory, like the North Vietnamese before them.

I think getting out is the right thing, for us and for Afghanistan, but it's not going to be good. (Not that it's good now, before we withdraw, either.)  Giving up and leaving was never going to be easy for the United States, and maybe it will take a liar and conman like Dump to do what should be done.

But if you want to start putting smug political spins on a decades old-disaster, it's not going to be good for Donald. What will happen after we leave will be ugly. And it will be really easy for those who hate the current administration, or for those who want more war, to go, "Only Cadet Bonespurs would have abandoned our Afghani allies. The coward sold out our Afghan allies to a horrible fate and threw away the sacrifices of countless American servicemen and servicewomen just to distract from impeachment and make his disastrous term look a little better as he runs for re-election. "

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Secret Annexes, Backroom Deals: Can Zalmay Khalilzad Deliver Afghan Peace for Trump?

At its heart, Khalilzad’s deal offers this basic bargain: the Taliban will reduce its violent attacks on U.S. and Afghan troops, and the U.S. will withdraw much its forces from the country. The Taliban has agreed to a seven-day “reduction in violence” to show that it’s serious. But, crucially, its leaders will not agree in public to the U.S. demand to keep counterterrorism forces in Afghanistan.

To get past that roadblock, Khalilzad has come up with a rickety workaround. The deal contains secret annexes, according to three people familiar with details of the current draft. The first is an agreement for U.S. counterterrorism forces to stay in the country. The second is a Taliban denouncement of terrorism and violent extremism. The third annex contains a mechanism to monitor whether all sides are honoring the semi-truce while talks between warring Afghan parties proceed, according to two of the sources, and the last addresses how the CIA will operate in future in Taliban-controlled areas.

Details of the secret annexes were provided in writing to TIME by one of the sources, who insisted on anonymity to disclose details of the confidential talks. A U.S. lawmaker and two Afghan officials confirmed that a long-term counterterrorism force numbering 8,600 U.S. troops, down from the current 13,000, is part of the deal. The State Department and Khalilzad’s office declined to comment, as did the CIA. Khalilzad declined to be interviewed for this article. A Taliban official insisted Thursday that the deal requires a full U.S. troop withdrawal and said that talk of secret annexes were just rumors.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Afghan President Rejects Timeline For Prisoner Swap Proposed In US-Taliban Peace Deal

The deal also outlined the release of up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government in exchange for up to 1,000 Afghan security forces held prisoner by the Taliban.

The swap is intended as a confidence building measure ahead of talks between the Taliban and Afghanistan's government, slated to begin around mid-March in Oslo, Norway. The talks are intended to achieve a lasting ceasefire and a political settlement that would establish a role for the Taliban in the country's future.

But on Sunday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told a news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, that a prisoner release was not a promise the United States could make, according to The Associated Press. "The request has been made by the United States for the release of prisoners and it can be part of the negotiations but it cannot be a precondition," said Ghani..

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Yesterday:
Trump speaks with Taliban leader, claims "very good" relationship

"We had a very good conversation with the leader of the Taliban today they're looking to get this ended ... the country really has to get it ended, we've been there for 20 years ... the relationship I have is very good with the Mullah," Trump said.

Today:
U.S. resumes airstrikes against Taliban to halt attack on Afghan forces

It was the first strike against the Taliban in 11 days, he said. It came just five days after the U.S. and Taliban signed an historic agreement that would end America’s longest war if the Taliban lived up to its commitments.

U.S. officials argue there’s a commitment by the Taliban to reduce violence. However, the four pages signed Feb. 29 agreement does not discuss a cessation of hostilities or reduction in violence. Technically, the week long reduction in violence partial truce ended on Feb. 29.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/thomasjoscelyn/status/1236026648161669122