#8 The best and only way to 'negotiate', begins with an unconditional, sudden pullout. Airlift your resources and men overnight, destroy or dismantle the rest. End all negotiations, declare that 'The US of A recognizes the legitimate elected Govt of Ashraf Ghani, and wishes him well', and that's it.
Fire Zalmay Khalilzad and pretend there is no such thing as an Afghanistan for the next four years. Ignore the anti-Trump books he will write and let him fade. Let the Afghan government cry and stomp, do not respond. Only deny all aid to Pakistain, and cultivate autonomous local assets to work with Baloch, Muhajir and Pashtun groups instead. A rotation of the usual Pak based assets is also advisable, since by now their activities will have become colored by local politics and they'd be hard pressed to change tack or see the big picture. In short, change the policy from supporting Pak in the WOT, to indirectly supporting various secessionists against Pak. They'll have to try and use the taliban against their domestic problems, and the Afghan bureaucracy may get a fighting chance and time to consolidate power. You may even earn profits by letting your companies sell small arms to the Afghan government; and they can sell their lands piecemeal to China for the funds, but they must pay, no loans. Do not worry. China will never be able to actually put a base in this graveyard of empires.
Watch as the experiment develops. Trump will have won the elections by then with a clean sweep. The next term you can spend in consolidating your judiciary and HoR if possible. I think it will usher in a complete breakdown of the entire ummah into an era of mutual suspicion, murders and brown-on-brown actions uncontrollable by even their Leftist benefactors, or the usual holy men. The sunni world will implode and create new, novel forms of terror and mayhem against each other. This should also help expose the and drive wedges between your entrenched islamists and Leftists.
The state of Pak will feature prominent in the ensuing chaos among Asian muslims, as taliban blunder about in Pak, fighting with everyone from IS-K to surprisingly well armed Baloch and Pashtun tribes. Because Pakistan is the petri dish where the taliban are born. Taliban wouldn't know whether to chart a route or wipe their arse with a map, if it weren't for the ISI who train them. In time, other Asian nations shall have to enter the fray to control the chaos. China will sink billions in their projects along the OBOR thingy, and suffer casualties they never expected.
In time, Trump could negotiate a peace between Taliban and Pakistain, or Taliban and China ! Who knows ? The prospects only get better from there.
Or, you could just keep attending these white table-cloth meetings in Qatari hotels hoping for something unique while your men and assets are killed daily. I think it's an ego thing, with the pentagon and Trump's advisors. You're just allowing the Afghan and Pakistan sunnis to con you for the sake of hubris. This intense need to prove to yourself, that America can actually bring about peace in utterly alien societies... 'we just have to apply the right amount of KA-BOOM in the right spots, boys'. These idiots will gladly dedicate more lives and money to another decade of the same.
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