{"id":14191,"date":"2019-05-08T23:33:22","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T23:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/05\/08\/making-the-best-of-a-bad-situation-in-afghanistan\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:17:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:17:33","slug":"making-the-best-of-a-bad-situation-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2019\/05\/08\/making-the-best-of-a-bad-situation-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the best of a bad situation in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week, after four days of intensive discussions in Kabul between prominent Afghan representatives from across the country, the 3,200-member loya jirga released its recommendations for the peace process to the Afghan government and the Taliban. The conclusion was clear: if peace in Afghanistan is to be achieved, all parties now fighting must stop doing so<\/a>, and engage in serious, substantive, inclusive political negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conclusions of the grand assembly are the inevitable byproduct of four consecutive decades of armed conflict. Many Afghans are worn out from essentially a lifetime of violence that has killed tens of thousands of their countrymen and women. The American people, weary of the endless, and increasing hopeless, cycle of U.S. troop deployments to Afghanistan at a cost of nearly $1 trillion, want the longest war in our history to end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The peace process between the United States and the Taliban has been rocky and turbulent. Some question U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad\u2019s insistence on speaking directly with the Taliban at such an \u201cearly\u201d date (perhaps an inept word choice for something occurring nearly two decades after hostilities began). Others support the peace process but wonder why the Afghan government was not brought into the negotiations sooner. Others openly call for Washington to walk away<\/a> from the table with the Taliban to force them into accepting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani as a legitimate player in the talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\t