![Delegates gather at a four-day assembly meeting to discuss opening up peace talks with the Taliban, in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 3, 2019 (AP photo by Rahmat Gul).](https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/l__fghanistan-peace-talks-09132019-1.jpg?w=519&h=259&crop=1)
Although President Donald Trump declared talks with the Taliban “dead” this week, the reality is that even as calls for a settlement in Afghanistan gained momentum, negotiations for a deal to end America’s longest war were bound to falter. Trump’s clumsy attempt to grab the spotlight by arranging for a last-minute summit at Camp David between the Taliban and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on the eve of the anniversary of 9/11 rightly rankled both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. But the White House obsession with striking a grand bargain in Afghanistan in time for the next U.S. presidential election is […]