There is No Easy Out in Afghanistan for the U.S.

Peace negotiations between the United States and the Taliban continue in Qatar while violence spikes in Afghanistan. This morning there was another fatal car bomb in Kabul. According to "Blast in Kabul Kills 14 and Injures 145 as Taliban Continue Talks With U.S." by Fahim Abed and Mujib Mashal,

In a sign of how widespread the violence is, Afghan security forces conducted nearly 100 large military operations and small commando raids and airstrikes in the last 24 hours, the defense ministry said, adding that it had killed at least 84 Taliban fighters and wounded dozens of others.

[snip]

The violence comes as American diplomats are hashing out final details of a preliminary agreement with the Taliban in talks in the Qatari capital, Doha. A deal would pave the way for immediate direct negotiations between the Taliban and other Afghans over the political future of the country.

An agreement between the insurgents and the United States, expected to be finalized soon, would result in a schedule for a conditional withdrawal of the remaining 14,000 American troops and their NATO partners in return for assurances on the prevention of terrorist attacks against the United States and its allies from Afghan soil.

While the United States seems to have assured a third element of its peace plan — direct negotiations between the Taliban and other Afghans, including the national government, immediately after an announcement of a schedule for troop withdrawals — there is little clarity on a demand for a comprehensive cease-fire.

If it is taking this long to arrive at an understanding about a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal, chances seem slim that any deal can be arrived between the Afghan government and the Taliban. There is a presidential election, already postponed twice, at the end of September that few will consider legitimate. Who will negotiate with the Taliban?

That's why I believe there is anxiety on the part of the Trump administration to have some sort of agreement in hand before September 28 because if things are violent and chaotic now they are bound to be even more so the closer election day approaches.

Trump is trying to cut and run. No doubt about it. And I don't think the Pentagon brass is too happy. But Trump has other wars he wants to fight -- Iran, Venezuela, to name only two.

The problem for Trump is that there is no easy way out of a country once you've been there for the better part of two decades. We have yet to see the worst.