In policy shift, U.S. open to meeting with Taliban

Probably make concessions and receive another football... they sending Trump to meet the Taliban?

Another surrender summit by Trump.

Oh no - the prospect of peace!

the lefties are gonna hate this!

Longest war in American history, can't win as the locals say "you have clocks, we have time" utterly fruitless.

Oh no - the prospect of peace!

the lefties are gonna hate this!

Ok, on this on, let’s wait to see what happens, Afghanistan is just a migraine at this point and we’re going nowhere, Obama wanted to go in and said, this was the real war to be fought and nothing came of it so far, so if we can talk and get some peace deal going. With the exception of Kabul, most of that country is run by the Taliban anyway.

@bas4 Obama 

Stop distorting. Bush was president when the US first invaded. Obama continued the war, as has Trump.

I’m not distorting anything. When Obama came into office, he wanted to pull all the troops out of Iraq and relocate them to Afghanistan where he said, that’s the real war and not Iraq. We didn’t have a SOFA agreement, Obama didn’t want one and all the resources were relocated to Afghanistan.

So Trump is going to be bending over for them as well as Putin and Kim Jong Il? That figures.

What a crank.

So Trump is going to be bending over for them as well as Putin and Kim Jong Il? That figures.

Donald 'Capitulate and Appease' Trump.

Putin must really want first dibs on Afghanistan's resources. Plus of course there are pipelines to be built.

As a "lefty" (though I consider myself more of a centrist), I approve this. The Taliban may contain philosophical and operational aspects abhorrent, but their longevity speaks to their connection with the local people - unlike ISIS, which folded quickly.

The challenge is how to bring them into the camp without their demanding complete control. But dialog, in this case, might be helpful.

Donald 'Capitulate and Appease' Trump. 

No money was given, so probably not.

Putin must really want first dibs on Afghanistan's resources. Plus of course there are pipelines to be built.

The Russians did the Afghan thing, didn’t work out so well for them.

Obama wanted to go in and said, this was the real war to be fought 

Wait, I don't get it. Wasn't Obama supposed to be the appeaser in this story? The "world apology tour" guy, according to the ODSers? Now the narrative is that Obama was a warmonger?

My brain hurts.

And isn't it Trump who's supposed to be the John Wayne character who socks it to the bad guy? And now the narrative from these loyal tribalists/cultists is that sucking up to Putin while kicking his own intelligence agencies in the crotch is apparently strong and clever.

This guy is a nut case who is somehow followed by millions. I go to bed depressed.

AM I STONED? Did somebody put something 'funny' in my cup o' java this morning? I saw the remade/remodeled re-release of 'Yellow Submarine' in the theater this past weekend and now I feel like that shrieking chief Blue Meanie who keeps screaming, 'WHAT?' when the Beatles bring music back to Pepperland.

First Trump kowtows to Kim, and he saluted a NK general. Then he lambasts our NATO/EU allies and shoots his mouth off like a kid. Then he shows the world once and for all what kind of President, let alone a MAN he really is when he meets Putin.  And now this. After so many of my military cohorts (I'm a veteran who served near the end of the Cold War) have died and/or have got injured, crippled, PTSD sick for life and now this! Oh yeah, Benedict Dotard says 'PTSD veterans are weak'. If this isn't outright treason and a KICK in the face of veterans, the service, Lady Liberty and everything good about the U.S.A. then I don't know what is.

I revisited a bright colorful part of my early childhood - CULTURE and now I keep wondering when I'll wake up from this horrible sad sick nightmare. Inside my heart I am crying.

What a farce.

If the Taliban will stop killing people, that's actually a good thing. I don't care who's responsible.

With all the actually dumb stuff going on, you guys actually waste time trying to spin peace with the Taliban into a bad thing just because Trump is involved. So dumb.

I'm reminded again how badly blinded by hatred of a single individual a lot of you are that Trump could save a bus full of blind kids from going off a cliff and you'd still find a way to make it a bad thing.

@starpunk

he saluted a NK general

Another non-issue to stir the pot. I know you won't, but look at the unedited footage of the meeting. He offered his hand to the general but the general saluted, so Trump returned the salute. Which is proper military courtesy even among enemies. Then they again reached in and shook hands. In fact, if Trump hadn't returned the salute, it would have been an insult. So nothing to see here, Trump actually did the right thing, despite what you want to believe.

The war needs to end. The peoples are suffering enough. The war has brought nothing except to destroy lives of peoples. All parties must include in talk about ending war. The Afghanistan war is never ending war.

Of course this is another failed republican war, just like in Iraq. There were times when the Republicans were funding the Taliban.

Yet the Bush administration did more than praise the Taliban’s proclaimed ban of opium cultivation. In mid-May, 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell announced a $43 million grant to Afghanistan in addition to the humanitarian aid the United States had long been providing to agencies assisting Afghan refugees

But when the Taliban offered to give up OBL to Bush for nothing basically, Bush said the US does not talk to the Taliban. Now Trump is talking to the Taliban because that is what his master Putin wants. It is all so crazy and makes no sense.

So funny to see the Trump MAGA types now supporting peace in Afghanistan. As if the care about the country at all after nearly two decades of US invasion of the country. Another huge loss here of the US military because they were sent into in a no win war in a foreign country. Just like Iraq. This is the Bush legacy, total and complete failure.

Now Trump is talking to the Taliban because that is what his master Putin wants. It is all so crazy and makes no sense.

So you are saying you don't want peace in Afghanistan. Got it.

So funny to see the Trump MAGA types now supporting peace in Afghanistan.

So only Trump supporters want peace in Afghanistan. Got it. (funny, I didn't vote for the man)

This page has some of the absolute dumbest comments I have ever read.

You don't like Trump's stance on immigration? I get it. You think he has Russian ties? Sure.

You don't want him to talk to the Taliban to broker a peace deal because... why was that again?

Or do we just need to wait until a more popular president (translation: the one you voted for) gets into office before we can make peace with someone.

You know what's really crazy and makes no sense? Comments like this.

Actually US & NATO. has defeated in Afghanistan , they just refused to admit it!

Afghanistan is a new Vietnam where some greedo jerks are making money out of it. It goes on and on and ON. There's been so many lies and allegations about it. Saddam Hussein was a jerk but he had zero connections with al Qaida - he was too egotistical to do so. Now he's gone and ISIS arose from Iraq's ashes, now we got a REAL monster. And Benedict Trump bans refugees from the region because he's a bigot. And he's making moolah out of it all. Brings the embassy straight to Jerusalem knowing that it would stir up more violence. He don't care. Lobs some rockets at an empty Syrian airfield to put on a show of 'toughness'. Yet he shows his treasonous true colors this week with Putin and he brags about his aggression against women and his incestuous lust and he loves to be SPANKED. Disgusting, man. Pathetic.