Zalmay Khalilzad’s ongoing negotiations with the Taliban constituted another layer of complexity. Pompeo believed he was carrying out Trump’s mandate to negotiate a deal lowering the US troop presence to zero. I thought this was clearly bad policy. In theory, the US government opposed any such arrangement unless it was “conditions based,” meaning we would go to zero only if: (1) there were no terrorist activities in the country; (2) ISIS and al-Qaeda were barred from establishing operating bases; and (3) we had adequate means of verification. I thought this was touchingly naïve, much like the
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