Same Hymnbook Bad Hymn

Well, now, this sounds familiar. In February, 2020

The United States signed a peace agreement with Taliban militants on Saturday aimed at bringing an end to 18 years of bloodshed in Afghanistan and allowing U.S. troops to return home from America's longest war. Under the agreement, the U.S. would draw its forces down to 8,600 from 13,000 in the next 3-4 months, with the remaining U.S. forces withdrawing in 14 months.

The complete pullout, however, would depend on the Taliban meeting their commitments to prevent terrorism.

The following month, Bruce Reidel of the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence and the Center for Middle East Policy wrote

The fundamental flaw in this agreement is that the internationally recognized Afghan government, led by Ashraf Ghani, was not included in the negotiations. By accepting the Taliban demand to exclude the Afghan government, the Trump administration betrayed our ally and elevated the Taliban to our equal. It is worth remembering that at the height of their power in 2000, only three governments — Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates — recognized the Taliban as a legitimate government. Excluding the Afghan government is strikingly reminiscent of the Nixon administration’s deal with North Vietnam in 1973, which excluded the South Vietnam government. 

Moving west from Asia, signs point to the same play being run from the same playbook in that on Wednesday

Trump took the world by surprise as he announced the phone call on his Truth Social platform earlier, saying he and Putin had "both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine," using an unconfirmed figure for the toll in the conflict.

The US president said they had agreed to "work together very closely, including visiting each other's Nations" and to "have our respective teams start negotiations immediately" on Ukraine, 

Trump later called Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not included on the call with Putin. 

On a positive note, on Thursday Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth walked back his dangerous remarks of the day before

that the U.S. would not accept NATO membership for Ukraine or provide peacekeeping troops, and warned the country would not return to its pre-2014 borders. He also said NATO peacekeeping troops in Ukraine would not be covered by Article 5, a bedrock principle of the alliance that declares any attack on one nation is an attack on all. 

On a negative note, Hegseth also acknowledged "what he decides to allow or not allow is at the purview of President Trump," rendering virtually anything stated by Hegseth as meaningless as we all knew it is in an Administration characterized by a Trump/Musk co-presidency. The two latter guys have plenty on the line with their business interests and ego, and Hegseth is to the elected, de jure President merely an alcoholic who looks good on television.

Putting all this aside:

Again, none of this is a surprise. He blames Ukraine for the war, and he says it’s up to Ukraine to “make peace.” Quit beating around the fucking bush: Donald Trump works for Vladimir Putin. Period. https://t.co/9EaS7LjtcA

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) February 12, 2025

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