WASHINGTON: IntelliÂgence that Afghan militants may need to be accepted Russian bounties for killing American troops didn't scuttle the US-Taliban agreement or President Donald Trumps decide to withdraw thousands of more troops from the war.
It did give critics of the deal one more reason to mention the Taliban shouldn’t be trusted.
The bounty information was included in Trump’s president’s daily intelligence brief on Feb 27, consistent with intelligence officials, and two days later, the US and Taliban signed an agreement in Qatar. The agreement clears the way for America to finish 19 years in Afghanistan and provides Trump on how to form well on his promise to finish US involvement in what he calls endless wars.
On March 3, three days after the agreement was signed, the president had a 35-minute 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 form it clear that the US expects the Taliban to measure up to their commitments, Under the agreement, the US will pull all its troops out of Afghanistan by May 2021. thus far the US has reduced US troop presence in Afghanistan from 12,000 to 8,600 a target reached before schedule. Now, Trump is considering when and the way quickly to further shrink the US military footprint.
The Taliban committed to reducing violence, cutting ties with Al Qaeda, and sitting down with other Afghans to craft a political road map for his or her country’s future. The Taliban have pledged to make sure that the areas they control about half the country at this point aren't employed by militant groups to focus on the US and its allies.
On Saturday, WashingÂton’s envoy to Afghanistan emphasized the 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 therefore the Gulf state of Qatar, where Taliban negotiators are headquartered.
Critics of the deal like Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., said the agreement is just a canopy for withdrawal.
"I have serious concerns with how this agreement has been pursued," Waltz said. “The Taliban has shown repeatedly through violence and bombings both before and after the deal was signed that they're not serious about adhering to their end of the discount.
The White House insists the president wasn't conscious of the intelligence but that the administration skilled the knowledge to guard troops. Administration officials say Russia alongside other countries, including Iran are 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 any monetary incentive to kill Americans. They also mean that the US worked against the Soviets within the late 1980s, providing militants with shoulder-held anti-aircraft Stinger missiles, which rotated the course of the war and sped-up negotiated Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Bounties or not, what we judge the Taliban on is whether or not they honor the deal, said Scott Smith, an expert on Afghanistan peace processes with the US Institute of Peace.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, defense officials and Afghan experts claim the Taliban has not taken steps to measure up to the now four-month-old agreement and that they are skeptical the Taliban will ever separate Al Qaeda, which conducted the 9/11 attacks.
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