Trump’s Scattershot Tweets Are Cherry On Top Of Dysfunctional Taliban Negotiations

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani listens while U.S. President Donald Trump makes a statement in September 2017. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
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President Donald Trump unloaded a series of tweets about the implosion of tentative talks with the Taliban and the Afghanistan government, surprising even the precious few who had been included in the negotiations.

His decision to reveal the details of the situation, seemingly unwise since he hasn’t given up on the idea of peace talks whole hog, is emblematic of the entire process, according to the New York Times. 

Driven by his impulse to do things other presidents never have — and to make deals — Trump decided suddenly that he wanted peace with the Taliban after an 18-year-long Afghanistan War.

He didn’t even clue in his entire National Security Council to the dysfunctional diplomacy that followed, choosing to confide in only a few close aides.

Even Republicans criticized the meeting after its cancellation, most homing in on the location — Camp David, the famous diplomacy hub where Americans host esteemed world leaders — and the timing. Initially planned for September 8, just days before 9/11, the meeting would have given legitimacy to the Taliban, a group which has never renounced the massively fatal attack.

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  1. I’m surprised he didn’t offer to hold the meetings at one of his properties.
    Maybe even in NYC…

  2. …and now they’ve extracted a high level spy from Russia because they can’t trust the ‘erratic tweets of the President’ to not endanger the person? WTF? And Pompeo out all day yesterday INSISTING DAMMIT that these talks have been ‘in the works’ for months only to have it reported this morning that it was about a week ago that ‘someone’ said ‘We should invite the Taliban to the US and broker peace!’ Christ.

  3. Fat Ass is almost as good at foreign policy as he is at having a successful marriage. Almost.

    Maybe he should see if he can make the Taliban sign a pre-nup agreement.

  4. or an NDA. :grin:

  5. Did you see the stories yesterday that Melania was only allowed a visa to stay if she earned a college degree and, guess what? She didn’t. Yawn.

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