Trump Administration ditched a last-minute meeting between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban in the US just after the Afghan group reached an initial agreement with Washington after nine rounds of talks in the Qatari capital Doha.
The US president announced the meeting was cancelled due to a Taliban attack in Kabul that killed one US soldier and 11 civilians.
“I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations,” tweeted Trump, accusing both the Afghan government and Taliban of trying to build “false leverage”.
Trump’s reason to cancel the meeting doesn’t seem rational because the Taliban continued their attacks on US positions while peace talks were going on in the Persian Gulf country, Qatar.
A tactic used by the the Armée de Libération Nationale (National Liberation Army), the armed wing of Algeria’s National Liberation Front (FLN) that targeted French troops while then French President de Gaulle opened secret negotiations with the FLN. Talks continued in 1961 in Evian and a cease-fire took effect on March 18, 1962.
The probable cause for the failure of Taliban talks could be Donald Trump’s own unpredictable personality, a trait that shocks everyone at a time when things are going good or vice versa.
It shouldn’t be forgotten that Trump’s former national security advisor John Bolton, that was fired on Tuesday, was also one big opponent of reaching a peace agreement with Taliban. But, now that he is out of the Oval Office, could things get back to the normal?
The US president could also be pursuing another strategy of getting more concessions from both Taliban and the Afghan government.
“What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position? They didn’t, they only made it worse!,” tweeted Trump.
According to the initial agreement between the US and Taliban, Washington had agreed to withdraw five thousands of its 14,000 stationed troops in Afghanistan in return for a promise by the Taliban not to allow the country fall into the hands of other armed forces like the terrorist group of ISIS to launch attacks.
It’s interesting that Taliban engaged in direct talks with the US rather than with Ghani’s government because it knew that the shots are called by Washington and not vice versa.
Also, the Afghan government in Kabul controls less territory than the Taliban, according to various sources.
Although the agreement was aborted at the last minute surprisingly, it wouldn’t be any surprise if it were signed in the near future as surprise is the personal trait of Donald Trump. The deal could have vast geopolitical consequences, but that won’t mean that Afghanistan will witness calm in near future.
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