I Want to Meet With the Taliban’: Tales of Trump’s Head-Scratching Diplomacy

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On Friday, August 16, 2019 – only three weeks after the Senate confirmed me as Secretary of Defense – The National Security Team met with President Donald Trump in Bedminster, N.J., Golf Club. Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney was on the spot, along with CIA Director Gina Haspel and White House Advisor Pat Cipollone, when General Joseph Dunford, Chair of the Chief of Staff of the Joint Staff, and I arrived.

It was a little strange driving to the club’s field on the outskirts of the black city and got out of the cars in dark clothes and uniforms while members of the Bedminster of all ages of playing -playing in the nearest swimming pool and four golfs on the other side of Clubhouse. John Bolton’s national security adviser arrived a little after us. He came to the Air Force air ship with Vice President Mike Pence.

John and I quickly greeted, and he pulled me sideways to ask questions calmly, “When did you know about this meeting?”

He stopped, telling me that he had “found out this morning about it,” and said that the state tried to “

cut the NSC out of the process.” He then quickly asked my view of the agreement proposed by the state to end the Afghan War, which was the subject of a clear meeting.

The meeting began a little after 3:00 pm In the “tent” security that was founded in a large and empty wing of a club building to protect us from electronic eavesdrops. The tent is no more than two long picnic tables, with enough space on the side for people walking through and grabbing their seats.

The president arrived with a good spirit, wearing a white shirt, blue sports coat and trousers, and sat at the end of a narrow table, closest to the entrance. After Trump welcomed everyone, State Secretary Mike Pompeo began the discussion by describing the efforts of Afghan Afghan Zalmay Khalilzad to conclude an agreement with the Taliban during the previous months and then reached the important points of the agreement. The Secretary of the State is realistic about the proposal and presents an assessment of the prospect, adding that it is “not a perfect agreement” and he “does not trust the Taliban.”

I looked across the table to Bolton angrily made a note on a large legal bearing. When the conversation turned to me, I told the President that Dod supported the plan, depending on the condition -based approach. I also added my two cents about not trusting the Taliban, but thought the agreement was “

pretty good” to provide peace opportunities. “We can always reach the break if the conditions are not met,” I added. Dunford agrees.

It is clear that Bolton opposed the agreement. He quoted a special concern about the departure date of May 2021 for the U.S. troops, especially the fact that there was no residual “counterterrorism” ability that would remain in the country if applied as written.

We are not fixed on the old topic at any point during the meeting. Trump began to bounce from problem to problem, getting more and more excited when he blabbering about corruption in Afghanistan, allegedly the alleged house of President Ashraf Ghani in Dubai and, inevitable, his complaints about my predecessor, Jim Mattis. He then jumped to the whole world like Bullfrog jumped from Lily Pad to Lily Pad. The President disagreed to ask why we put more troops in Poland, asking, “Do we really want Fort Trump there?” He had agreed to both, Bolton reminded him. The President complained that there were too many U.S. troops. in Europe and that “NATO tore us.”

This triggered the soundtrack of the German president, most of which about the Chancellor Angela Merkel and how Berlin “did not pay a fair part” when it came to defense. He told the story of his first meeting with Merkel, and how he asked, “What will you do about Ukraine?” Regarding US military and financial support. What he responded quickly, as he said, “What will you do about Ukraine?” In his view, Germany “closer to Ukraine than us,” and that is a “great support” for Germany against Russia. “They have to pay for more than anyone,