The Rooster
"Okeydoke"
Afghan roosters have a hard life, they have to fight other roosters to stay alive. These animal fights are very popular with men in Afghanistan.
Bolton is wrong. There is no path to peace without the Taliban. The alternative is to turn Afghanistan into Iraq and put 100's of thousands of USA troops into the country and fight for regime change.
Don't forget, Bush abandoned Afghanistan for Iraq. That is why the USA is still there. The Taliban reconstituted in Pakistan during the years of the Iraq war. The difference in the theater in Afghanistan is the defeat of Al Qaeda, the new presence of a Daesh minority, the lack of alliance support, a democratic political party, a National Assembly of the People and greater tensions with Iran. Those tensions with Iran because of Trump's desire for a Middle East war, complicates the possibility for peace in Afghanistan.
Before the retaliation of the attacks of September 11, 2001, Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban. It was a military dictatorship. It wasn't really a centralized dictatorship, the control over the people was local, more or less Taliban militias and oppression of the people into a national religious regime. That is also a valid point, the geography and weather of Afghanistan itself dictate local control. There were a lot of corrupt militias, including Haqqani that controlled and still control the Poppy Culture.
The current National Assembly is liked by the people and is successful in passing laws and carrying some degree of enforcement. Afghanistan is better today for the sacrifice of the USA, but, it is time for peace in the region. The region certainly doesn't need Iran at war either.
It has been the priority of every Afghanistan leader to bring the USA and Iran to a peace of some sorts to insure democratic survival. Bush turned down the offer, Obama gathered with other Western countries to seek and pass the Iran Deal, but, Trump blew it. There has to be peaceful cooperation with Iran to insure the region doesn't launch into complete chaos AGAIN.
As a matter of fact, peaceful cooperation with Iran is a very important national security issue, unless, Trump and Netanyahu want Daesh back again.
By Michael Safi
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, watches as an army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Sgt 1st Class Elis Barreto Ortiz at Dover air force base, Delaware.
Donald Trump says he has cancelled secret peace talks (click here) on Afghanistan scheduled for Sunday that would have brought him face to face with Taliban leaders at Camp David, the presidential retreat in the hills of Maryland state – with the Islamist militant group warning on Sunday that the snub meant more American lives would be lost.
The US president made the remarkable claim in a series of tweets on Saturday evening declaring he had “called off” the negotiations after the Taliban claimed responsibility for a blast in Kabul that killed 12 people including a US soldier on Thursday.
“What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position?” Trump wrote, accusing Taliban leaders of trying to build leverage ahead of Sunday’s talks.
“If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don’t have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway.”...
