The Paradox of the Afghan-Taliban deal. @thomasjoscelyn, @BillRoggio
Image: Taliban police patrolling the streets of Herat (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herat) in a pickup truck https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/02/taliban-peace-deal-118660 Tom Joscelyn, Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies; & Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal; and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD; in re: This is not a peace deal with Taliban; it’s a three-page withdrawal agreement of concessions to Taliban. Prisoner swap? In one clause, the US agreed to facilitate the release of up to 5K prisoners held by the Afgh govt in exchange for 1K prisoners held by Taliban. Taliban says it won't allow al Q to organize international attack s against the US. Taliban have been saying this forever, and of course it’s not true. The “seven-day reduction in violence” period is over. It's all absurd, Kabuki theater. We’re dealing with very flawed agreement. I don't agree with the way President Trump expresses some situations but I agree that the generals have [not been able to explain satisfactorily]. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..