“Senior Taliban officials and U.S. representatives are to hold talks Saturday and Sunday about containing extremist groups in Afghanistan and easing the evacuation of foreign citizens and Afghans from the country,” reports ABC News.
“It’s the first such meeting since U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan in late August, ending a 20-year military presence there, and the Taliban’s rise to power in the nation. The talks are to take place in Doha, the capital of the Persian Gulf state of Qatar. Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, who is based in Doha, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the talks will also revisit the peace agreement the Taliban signed with Washington in 2020. The agreement had paved the way for the final U..S. withdrawal.”
“Since the Taliban took power, Islamic State extremists have ramped up attacks on the militant group, as well as ethnic and religious minorities. On Friday, an IS suicide bomber killed at least 46 minority Shiite Muslims and wounded dozens in the deadliest attack since the U.S. departure. IS has carried out relentless assaults on the country’s Shiite Muslims since emerging in eastern Afghanistan in 2014. IS is also seen as the greatest threat to the United States.”
“The U.S.-Taliban agreement of 2020, which was negotiated by the Trump administration, demanded the Taliban break ties with terrorist groups and guarantee Afghanistan would not again harbor terrorists who could attack the United States and its allies. It seems certain the two sides will discuss in the weekend talks how to tackle the growing threat. The Taliban have said they do not want U.S. anti-terrorism assistance and have warned Washington against any so-called ‘over-the -horizon’ strikes on Afghan territory from outside the country’s borders.”
Republicans are deeply concerned over events in Afghanistan. There have been reports that the Taliban plans to pursue economic development deals with the Chinese government, instead of granting exclusive rare earth mining rights to companies owned by associates of Russian President and major Republican Party donor Vladimir Putin. The Biden administration may adopt a policy of supporting economic development in Afghanistan as a means of trying to modernize the country and reduce economic and social backwardness. If the Chinese are partners in that effort, and Russia is locked out of mining opportunities in the country, then Putin may decide to lash out at the GOP by instructing his fellow Russian oligarchs to cut back substantially on contributions that are routed to GOP leaders through shell companies and leadership PACs, resulting in a substantial cash crunch for the Republican Party.
Another issue that Democrats need to play up more aggressively every time there is another terror strike by ISIS is that now the Taliban is fighting that war themselves, rather than US forces. Democrats will need to develop more aggressive political messaging to play up the fact that instead of the US being in Afghanistan where they are resented by and fight against both the Taliban and ISIS, US troops are at home, leaving the Taliban and ISIS to fight amongst themselves. An aggressive messaging campaign which played up the savings in “blood and treasure” for the United States could dramatically improve Biden’s approval ratings, and make Republicans who are calling for perpetual war look like hopeless fools.