Critics of US-Taliban deal: Militants can’t be trusted
Naysayers say the pledge is a ‘cover for withdrawal’
WASHINGTON — Intelligence that Afghan militants might have accepted Russian bounties for killing American troops did not scuttle the U.S.-Taliban agreement or President Donald Trump’s plan to withdraw thousands more troops from the war.
It did give critics of the deal another reason to say the Taliban shouldn’t be trusted.
The bounty information was included in Trump’s president’s daily intelligence brief on Feb. 27, according to intelligence officials, and two days later, the U.S. and Taliban signed an agreement that clears the way for America to end 19 years in Afghanistan and gives Trump a way to make good on his promise to end U.S. involvement in what he calls “endless wars.”
On March 3, the president had a 35-minute phone call with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban and head of their political office in Qatar. After reports of the bounties broke in late June, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had a video conference with Baradar to make it clear that the U.S. expects the Taliban to live up to their commitments.
Under the agreement, the U.S. will pull all its troops out of Afghanistan by May 2021. The U.S. has reduced troop presence in Afghanistan from 12,000 to 8,600 — a target reached ahead of schedule. Now, Trump is considering when and how quickly to further shrink the U.S. military footprint.
The Taliban committed to reducing violence, cutting ties with al-Qaida and sitting with other Afghans to craft a political road map for their country’s future. The Taliban have pledged to ensure that the areas they control — about half the country — are not used by militant groups to target the U.S. and its allies.
On Saturday, Washington’s envoy to Afghanistan emphasized economic benefits of the deal, which has run into new political obstacles. Zalmay Khalilzad was wrapping up a weeklong trip that included stops in Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Qatar.
Critics of the deal, like Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., say the agreement is simply a “cover for withdrawal.”
“I have serious concerns with how this agreement has been pursued,” he said. “The Taliban (have) shown repeatedly — through violence and bombings both before and after the deal was signed — that they are not serious about adhering to their end of the bargain.”
The White House insists the president was not aware of the intelligence but that the administration responded to the information to protect troops. Administration officials say Russia — along with other countries, including Iran — have been providing the Taliban money and guns for years, although bounties would signal stepped-up Russian aggression.
Military experts note that the Taliban didn’t need monetary incentive to kill Americans. They also point out that the U.S. worked against the Soviets in the late 1980s, providing militants with shoulder-held anti-aircraft Stinger missiles, which turned around the course of the war and sped-up negotiated Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“Bounties or not, what we judge the Taliban on is whether they honor the deal,” said Scott Smith, an expert on Afghanistan peace processes with the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, defense officials and Afghan experts claim the Taliban have not taken steps to live up to the four-month-old agreement and they are skeptical the Taliban will ever break with al-Qaida, which conducted the 9/11 attacks.
The U.S. general overseeing American military operations in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, said in mid-June that he is dubious of the Taliban’s intentions to fulfill their commitments, suggesting that he would not favor a rapid U.S. withdrawal. McKenzie said it is an open question whether the Taliban will keep Afghanistan from being the launchpad for attacks on the U.S.
“They have not yet completely made that case,” McKenzie said.
Thomas Joscelyn, a longtime critic of the deal at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said the Taliban have repeatedly said al-Qaida has not been in Afghanistan since 2001.
“Without any verification or enforcement mechanisms — and there are no such provisions specified in the text of the deal released to the public — there is no reason to think the Taliban (are) telling the truth now,” he said.
The Defense Department’s latest report on the war said the Taliban have stepped up violence against Afghan forces, but have avoided attacks on U.S. or coalition troops.
The report also said U.S.led counterterrorism operations have degraded alQaida, which now poses only a “limited threat” to the U.S. The Pentagon report said, however, that the Taliban maintain close ties to al-Qaida.