KABUL – The Taliban are the victors,” says retired US Brig. Gen. DonBolduc, who saw 69 of his soldiers killed in Afghanistan. “We just haven’tfigured that out yet.”
Absorbing the fact that the US has lost militarily in Afghanistan will be a”bitter pill” for the soldiers he fought with, Bolduc told Yahoo NewsFriday.
“They did what they were asked, they did the right thing, and they watchedtheir teammates get maimed, get killed, and because of the failure of ourpolicymakers and our senior military leaders, they’re going to haveto swallow this pill,” he said.
The retired Special Forces officer says he has the dog tags of all 69 menwho were lost during his five years in Afghanistan as a token to remind himof the “price for bad policy and strategy.”
Retired US Maj. Gen. Jeff Schloesser, who commanded the 101st AirborneDivision in Afghanistan from early 2008 through mid-2009, tells the outlet,”I lost 184 soldiers there.”
Yahoo noted that in the event the US had accepted a Taliban surrenderat the end of 2001, “maybe it would have concluded on our terms then,” saysBolduc. “Now it’s concluding on the Taliban’s terms.”
“The Afghan military can’t win without our airpower right over theirshoulder and our guys standing next to them pushing them into the fight.They get their asses handed to them every time they fight the Taliban,”said Bolduc.
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Afghan Air Force airstrikes reportedly killed three Taliban militantson Friday, however, including the movement’s intelligence chief MullahAhmad, Sputnik reported. Ahmad was reported to be responsible for planningattacks in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, TOLOnews reported, citing Afghanarmy officials.
This week, Taliban and Afghan officials held peace talks in Moscoworganized by an Afghan diaspora group in Russian capital. At theintra-Afghan consultations, Abdul Salam Hanafi, deputy chief of theTaliban’s lone political office in Doha, Qatar, told Sputnik News, “Yes,the Americans told us that half of their troops will be withdrawn startingin the beginning of February until the end of April.”
Hanafi also reiterated the Taliban’s rallying call that foreign forcesshould not be present in Afghanistan.
The US has stepped up diplomatic engagement with the Taliban. Last week, USSpecial Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzadconfirmed that talks between the Taliban and US representatives in Qatarhad resulted in progress. Notably, Khalilzad told the New York Times thedueling sides reached an agreement in principle on a framework for a peacedeal.
On Friday, Khalilzad said in comments at the US Institute of Peace the US”would like” for intra-Afghan discussions and a “ceasefire to happen ASAP,”or as soon as possible. “Between now and July there is sufficient time, Ibelieve, where we could reach an agreement,” Khalilzad said when asked if adeal could be reached by the Afghan presidential election. – Sputnik
