Could: Lots of uncertainties and unanswered questions remain. And a straight bugout would risk the same kind of catastrophe that followed President Barack Obama’s unilateral pullout from Iraq, which rapidly produced the rise of ISIS.
Chief US negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad says he’s reached a draft agreement in principle under which the Taliban will guarantee not to let Afghan territory serve as a base for terrorists. That’s vital: The Taliban’s hosting of al Qaeda led directly to 9/11.
And the tentative accord ‐ according to Khalilzad, though the Taliban are already talking otherwise ‐ dictates further conditions before a full US pullout.
In particular, the Taliban haven’t agreed to a ceasefire before any withdrawal, which Khalilzad says is a condition of any deal moving forward. And he admits that just how any agreement is to be monitored and enforced must still be "fleshed out."
Another issue: The US-backed Afghan government was not a party to the talks, and the Taliban still haven’t agreed to deal with it directly. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has backed the negotiations, saying he wants "peace quickly" ‐ but warned of the need to "not repeat past mistakes."
Right. As President Trump noted in 2017 of Obama’s hasty Iraq withdrawal, "Our hard-won gains slipped back into the hands of terrorist enemies." That’s why Trump set aside his initial instinct to leave Afganistan quickly and opted to make another military effort, based on "principled realism."
We have other missions for these brave men.