Whatever he’s for, I’m against.
Have they been waiting and hoping for the Taliban to lay a hand on an American (a temptation which the Taliban have apparently resisted), as an excuse for us to plow back in?
Would not surprise me in the least. We had 2500 troops and now suddenly we have 6,000 back in there.
“Have they been waiting and hoping for the Taliban to lay a hand on an American (a temptation which the Taliban have apparently resisted),”
For this brief moment the USA and the Taliban share the same objective.
*They want us gone
*We want to be out of there
For now this has stabilized our situation, but if either side pushes it will get very messy very fast.
The optimal situation for the government of Afghanistan is:
All Americans out of their country with a) maximum humiliation and b) minimum physical trauma.
Having an air assault on Bagram (which could possibly succeed) is not in their interests. Having pitched battles in the streets of Kabul to “rescue” Americans who they want gone anyway is also not in their interests.
Anything which promotes the peaceful reunification of China IS in the Taliban’s interests, for many reasons. Having America’s loser-paper tiger status playing on TV for weeks HELPS China. Provoking America into killing Taliban DOES NOT help China.