Let’s start with the big picture. The United States during the Trump administration entered into direct talks with the Taliban, and the stated purpose of the talks was twofold: one, to find a way for the United States to withdraw from the war, but, secondly, to end the war, in which Afghans were primarily suffering.
And what we have discovered, I think, by taking a really close look at this record, is that, in the end, the peace talks weren’t about peace. They were about America leaving. And at every intersection where the United States faced a choice between prioritizing a reduction in violence, a ceasefire or some kind of political settlement among Afghans, between the Taliban and the Kabul government, rather than insisting upon that, it instead built an exit ramp to leave itself. And we all saw the result last August.
The record is full of detailed conversations, both within the negotiating room and between the White House and the Kabul government led by Ashraf Ghani, President Ghani. And there’s a lot of shocking kind of conversation and detail. The essence of it, I found — you know, I’ve been reporting in general and around Afghanistan for a long time. I was still kind of shocked by the degree of cynicism that the United States often brought to this endeavor to seek peace, particularly during the Trump years.
— source democracynow.org | Dec 16, 2021