Thread by @ClaireBerlinski

The interior ministry spokesman confirms that the target of the bombing in Kabul was the Green Village compound. theguardian.com/world/2019/sep… This is the Green Village: stratexfs.com

So if our envoys are over there in Doha with the message, "Look, we don't care what you do in Afghanistan. Just promise you won't kill Westerners--I mean, just *say those words once*--and we're out of here," well it seems they're not even willing to do that.

"the wounded included women and children. Associated Press video showed bloodied people streaming into a local hospital."

"The blast occurred during the final minutes of a nationally televised interview with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad on what a US-Taliban deal might mean for Afghanistan’s future."

Well, that's what it might mean, alright. Very on-message.

"[Trump] has been eager to withdraw troops before the 2020 election and the draft deal meets that deadline.

"The reduction would bring troop levels down to roughly where they were when Trump took office in January 2017."

"The insurgents want all of the estimated 20,000 US and Nato forces to leave Afghanistan and already portray their departure as a victory."

"For its part the US seeks Taliban assurances that Afghanistan will not be a safe haven for extremist groups to plan and launch global terror attacks."

Well, I guess we won't even get that. (As meaningless as those assurances would be.)

They clearly don't think it would be sufficient for us to leave. They want unconditional surrender.

I don't actually think surrendering, unconditionally, would send the right message about what happens if you attack downtown Manhattan.

But I do appreciate that this is a quagmire that makes one appreciate why Lê Đức Thọ won the Nobel Peace Prize.