Endless war in Afghanistan

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Top Republicans in the House are expressing concerns over the Trump administration’s deal with the Taliban, with lawmakers cautioning the insurgents won’t live up to their end of the bargain and arguing the agreement puts the country’s national security at risk. The disagreement marks yet another area of foreign policy where President Trump’s usual allies in Congress are willing to break with the president and do so publicly.  Defense hawks, in particular, are concerned the agreement sets the stage for a full U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan within months, that thousands of Taliban prisoners could be released in the coming weeks and that enforcement mechanisms are being kept from the American public.

House Republicans sound the alarm on Taliban deal | TheHill

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While the collapse of the Afghan government was precipitated quickly over the course of the last week, it was primarily born out of uncertainty created by talks held in Doha, Qatar, more than a year and a half ago. The agreement was finalized in February 2020 between the US and the Taliban, confirming a full American withdrawal along with reduced allied forces.

US officials and Afghan military officials described a demoralized military following the Doha agreement, seeing the deal as the government’s guaranteed defeat against the Taliban. “They saw that document as the end,” an Afghan special forces officer told the Post, referring to government-aligned officials. “The day the deal was signed we saw the change. Everyone was just looking out for himself. It was like [the United States] left us to fail.””

How did the Taliban take over Afghanistan so quickly? - Vox

• While this will go down as Biden's loss (and they indeed bungled the withdrawal on multiple fronts), the roots are much deeper, of course.