US Attacks Taliban Positions In First Strike After Much-Hyped Truce Deal

It appears the official death of the so-called ‘historic’ peace deal between the United States and the Taliban, as the US military has bombed Taliban positions Wednesday in the first such strike after the truce deal, and the first attack in nearly two weeks.

As we noted when it began unraveling Monday while the ink was barely dry after US State Department and Taliban representatives signed the truce in Doha Saturday, the first major milestone in the controversial deal that saw Washington engage with terrorists while desperately wanting to bring an end to the eighteen-year long occupation would have ultimately seen all American troops out of Afghanistan within 14 months. 

That now appears a pipe dream, and awkward timing to say the least, given President Trump just held a phone call with the Taliban’s top representative Tuesday.

CNN reports of the details of the attack via drone strike:

The United States conducted an airstrike Wednesday against Taliban fighters in Afghanistan who are accused of attacking an Afghan National Defense and Security Forces checkpoint, according to the US military.

The strike comes hours after a telephone call between President Donald Trump and Taliban chief negotiator Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar on Tuesday amid reports that the Taliban had resumed violence in Afghanistan days after the US and the Taliban signed a historic agreement in Qatar on Saturday.

A Pentagon spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan said in a series of statements, “The US conducted an airstrike Wednesday against Taliban fighters in Nahr-e Saraj, Helmand, who were actively attacking an #ANDSF checkpoint. This was a defensive strike to disrupt the attack. This was our 1st strike against the Taliban in 11 days.”

US defense leaders have lately sought to temper expectations in the wake of the deal’s signing. “To think that there’s going to be an absolute cessation of violence in Afghanistan, that is probably not going to happen,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, said Monday.

And Monday was the very day the Taliban declared it would resume operations against Afghan security forces, effectively ending the partial truce. There’s been a noticeable ramping up of attacks and bombings against national forces in the past two days.

The whole thing appears to have unraveled after Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid had again demanded the government release some 5,000 Taliban prisoners held by the Kabul government.

But Afghan President poured cold water on this key element of the deal, responding earlier, “There is no commitment to releasing 5,000 prisoners. This is the right and the self-will of the people of Afghanistan. It could be included in the agenda of the intra-Afghan talks, but cannot be a prerequisite for talks.”

This seems to be driving the Taliban’s non-commitment to the truce, even after all the hype in Western media. It increasingly appear the headlines never matched the reality in the first place, considering how it unraveled pretty much immediately upon being signed with Washington.