Current Events > US, Taliban sign agreement, US troops to withdraw from Afghanistan in 14 months

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51689443

The US and the Taliban have signed an agreement aimed at paving the way towards peace in Afghanistan after more than 18 years of conflict.

The US and its Nato allies have agreed to withdraw all their troops from the country within 14 months if the militants uphold the deal.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Taliban leaders attended the signing ceremony in Doha in Qatar.

Talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban are due to follow.

Under the agreement signed in Doha, the militants also agreed not to allow al-Qaeda or any other extremist group to operate in the areas they control.

The US invaded Afghanistan weeks after the September 2001 attacks in New York by the Afghanistan-based al-Qaeda group.

More than 2,400 US troops have been killed during the conflict. About 12,000 are still stationed in the country. President Trump has promised to put an end to the conflict.

What happened in Doha?
The deal was signed by US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar with Mr Pompeo as a witness.

In a speech, Mr Pompeo urged the militant group to "keep your promises to cut ties with al-Qaeda".

Meanwhile US Defence Secretary Mark Esper was in the Afghan capital Kabul alongside Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani - whose government did not take part in the US-Taliban talks.

Mr Esper said: "This is a hopeful moment, but it is only the beginning. The road ahead will not be easy. Achieving lasting peace in Afghanistan will require patience and compromise among all parties." He said the US would continue to support the Afghan government.

What's in the agreement?
Within the first 135 days of the deal the US will reduce its forces in Afghanistan to 8,600, with allies also drawing down their forces proportionately.

The move would allow US President Donald Trump to show that he has brought troops home ahead of the US presidential election in November.

The deal also provides for a prisoner swap. Some 5,000 Taliban prisoners and 1,000 Afghan security force prisoners would be exchanged by 10 March, when talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government are due to start.

The US will also lift sanctions against the Taliban and work with the UN to lift its separate sanctions against the group.

Important thing to note here is that this agreement was reached without any input by the actual Afghan government.
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Taliban leaders probably told Trump how great he was and he blushed and told them to retake the country over.

Legitimately the only thing I can picture with this is that "Oh you" meme with that guy with his hands on his hips and that dog sitting down looking sheepish.
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That's an enormous qualifier "if" in the second sentence.

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My mind is blown how you can make a peace deal with a terrorist organization/insurgent group without involving the government of the country.

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Republican in office Taliban attacks. Democrat in office take Taliban leader out. Republican in office makes deal with Taliban.
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Trump showed us how he can make deals with trustworthy leaders like Kim Jong, so this will work just like NK did when they gave up their nukes and declared peace with South Korea.

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*Trump tries to end an 18 year costly war*

Trump haters: "This is terrible! He's at it again!"

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Afghanistan War is the longest in US history right?

Should have ended 14 months ago.. or 14 years ago. This is good news.
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And yeah, the people literally hating on Trump for this look really stupid. Trump has done plenty to deserve hate, don't hate on him when he does something right.
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It's still crazy to me that no under 40 in that country knows what any level of peace and stability look like.

They're actually one of the countries that are probably going to get hit hardest by climate change (and they're already seeing it) because they've had almost no time to work on mitigating the effects.
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Aren't all of you complaining about this the same ones who say we should have never been in the region to begin with? I swear, if your lightbulbs went out you'd blame Trump.

I heard we don't negotiate with fucking terrorists

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This is LITERALLY the plot of the current season of Homeland.

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As a Brit this makes me wonder what the point of going into Afghanistan in the first place was? What have we gained and is the country safer and is the middle east safer now than it was in 2001?

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Crepes posted...

As a Brit this makes me wonder what the point of going into Afghanistan in the first place was? What have we gained and is the country safer and is the middle east safer now than it was in 2001?

Now they know not to fuck with America, unless they want 18 more years of war.

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Orlando_Jordan posted...

Now they know not to fuck with America, unless they want 18 more years of war.

"This time!"

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Crepes posted...

As a Brit this makes me wonder what the point of going into Afghanistan in the first place was? What have we gained and is the country safer and is the middle east safer now than it was in 2001?

well, Dick Cheney got some of that sweet oil money, so it wasn't a total loss.

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Crepes posted...

As a Brit this makes me wonder what the point of going into Afghanistan in the first place was? What have we gained and is the country safer and is the middle east safer now than it was in 2001?

opium

FakeHoax posted...

Republican in office Taliban attacks. Democrat in office take Taliban leader out. Republican in office makes deal with Taliban.

I wonder why the Trump ass lickers of facebook dont point this out.

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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bolton-trump-obama-style-taliban-deal

John Bolton be like "Why the fuck are you legitimizing the Taliban?"
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Soon as we are gone the Taliban is going to take back over the Afghan government. Also, why the fuck would you negotiate with the Taliban about US troops leaving Afghanistan without involving the Afghan government?
This is almost Munich pact level absurd.

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This reminds me of the Israel and Palestine treaty that the US brokered

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Orlando_Jordan posted...

*Trump tries to end an 18 year costly war*

No, he's just ending American involvement in it.

Orlando_Jordan posted...

Now they know not to fuck with America, unless they want 18 more years of war.

Funny, because it looks an awful lot like it's America that wants to pull itself out of the quicksand of a long, unpopular and pointless conflict and doesn't want be there for 18 more years.

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ScazarMeltex posted...

Soon as we are gone the Taliban is going to take back over the Afghan government. Also, why the fuck would you negotiate with the Taliban about US troops leaving Afghanistan without involving the Afghan government?
This is almost Munich pact level absurd.

Taliban took over most part of the country. Afghan government could have hardly done anything since the people were strongly behind the Taliban.

*mumbles something about the Iran deal*

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We will be back in no time.

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FakeHoax posted...

Republican in office Taliban attacks. Democrat in office take Taliban leader out. Republican in office makes deal with Taliban.

What taliban attack? 9/11? What taliban leader did Obama take out? A republican making a deal with the taliban wow, good thing obama never did that (hint: bergdahl).

Maybe you can explain your post but it's looking pretty stupid to me right now.

This seems reminiscent of Northern Ireland, somehow.

TiamatNM posted...

What taliban attack? 9/11? What taliban leader did Obama take out? A republican making a deal with the taliban wow, good thing obama never did that (hint: bergdahl).

Maybe you can explain your post but it's looking pretty stupid to me right now.

I think he's talking about Mullah Omar

And this is already dead. Incredible.
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shockthemonkey posted...

Shit, really?

Yep because Trump made a promise that the Afgan government would do something, without asking them or involving them in negotiations. Its the Israeli Palestinian "deal" all over again.

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shockthemonkey posted...

Shit, really?

Yeah the Afghan government was like "The fuck? No we're not releasing 5000 Taliban members we've captured" and that was the end of it.
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Bio1590 posted...

Yeah the Afghan government was like "The f***? No we're not releasing 5000 Taliban members we've captured" and that was the end of it.

whoops

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