Los Angeles Times - 05.03.2020

LATIMES.COM THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020A

Youknow thefeeling whenyouactuallywake

upearlytogotothegym?

Rolling over your old 401k can bring you that same sense of satisfaction—without the alarm clock.

Our team of rollover specialists will walk you through the process step by step, and even call your

oldprovider.Wedotheheavyliftingsoyoucanfocusonfeelingaccomplished.

Get up to $600 when you roll over your old 401k into an IRA.

Visittdameritrade.com/rolloverto get started today.

A rollover is not your only alternative when dealing with old retirement plans. Please visit tdameritrade.com/rollover for more information on rollover alternatives.

See tdameritrade.com/600offer for offer details and restrictions/conditions. This is not an offer or solicitation in any jurisdiction where we arenot authorized to do

business. TD Ameritrade, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. © 2019 TD Ameritrade.

THE WORLD

WASHINGTON — U.S.
warplanes carried out an
airstrike against Taliban
fighters in southern Af-
ghanistan on Wednesday,
just days after the two sides
signed a tentative peace
agreement that now seems
at risk.
The U.S. planes targeted
militants in Helmand prov-
ince who were assaulting a
checkpoint held by the
Afghan army, according to
Col. Sonny Leggett, a mili-
tary spokesman in Kabul.
He called it a “defensive
strike” to aid an ally, the
Afghan government.
“We are committed to
peace. However we have the
responsibility to defend our
... partners,” Leggett said in
a tweet. Taliban fighters “ap-
pear intent on squandering
this [opportunity] and ig-
noring the will of the people
for peace.”
The incident under-
scored the fragility of the
U.S.-Taliban agreement.
Heralded by President
Trump, who is determined
to end the war in an election
year, the accord calls for the
withdrawal of American
troops from Afghanistan
within 14 months and for the
Taliban and the Afghan gov-
ernment, which was not a
party to the accord, to hold
talks this month on a cease-
fire and a final settlement of
the nearly 2-decade-old con-
flict.
That blueprint appears
threatened by the resur-
gence in violence and other
festering disputes. Chief
among them is whether
Afghan President Ashraf
Ghani will release as many
as 5,000 Taliban prisoners

before the talks begin, a Tali-

ban demand that Ghani has

so far rebuffed.

The U.S.-Taliban accord

calls on both sides and the

Afghan government to avoid

conflict, continuing a pause

in violence that began as a

confidence-building step a

week before the agreement

was signed in Doha, Qatar,

on Saturday.

But Taliban leaders ap-

pear to have decided that

Trump is so eager to bring

the 12,000 American forces

home that he will not pull

out of the deal as long as the

militant group confines its

attacks to Afghan govern-

ment forces.

On Monday the group’s

leaders ordered their fight-

ers in a letter to resume at-

tacks on the government

forces, but not to attack U.S.

and other foreign troops.

Taliban fighters carried out

43 attacks on the Afghan

army on Tuesday alone,

Leggett said. The airstrike

Wednesday was the first U.S.

attack in 11 days, he added.

In Kabul, Gen. Austin

“Scotty” Miller, the top U.S.

commander, had told re-

porters Tuesday that the

planned peace process “is

fragile if the Taliban are not

going to lower violence.”

Otherwise, he added, “it’s

hard to have an agreement.”

Trump has not specified

the conditions under which

he might slow or halt the

planned withdrawal. The

U.S. is planning to begin

pulling out troops soon, tak-

ing its force level down to

8,600 by early summer. All

remaining U.S. forces, along

with 8,000 foreign troops and

tens of thousands of con-

tractors, are to leave the

country by May 2021.

Suhail Shaheen, a Tali-

ban spokesman, said Tues-

day that the militant group

was committed to the agree-

ment but called on the U.S.

and the Afghan government

to observe it as well.

“The Islamic Emirate, ac-

cording to the plan, will im-

plement all parts of the

agreement one after another

to prevent the intensity of

war,” he said in a tweet Tues-

day. “The other side must

also remove the barriers to

the implementation of all

parts of the agreement.”

The attacks came just a

day after Trump spoke with

a top Taliban leader by

phone about ending the war

in Afghanistan. It was the

first known direct contact

between an American presi-

dent and the fundamental-

ist Islamic movement in the

19 years since U.S. troops en-

tered the country after the

terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,

2001.

Trump confirmed that he

spoke with Taliban political

leader Mullah Abdul Ghani

Baradar only after the group

first announced the call. The

Taliban sheltered Osama

bin Laden before the terror-

ist attacks, and have killed

more than 2,400 U.S. soldiers

since the war started nearly

two decades ago.

“They’re looking to get

this ended, and we’re look-

ing to get it ended,” the pres-

ident said after telling re-

porters, “We had a very good

conversation with the leader

of the Taliban today.”

He implied there may

have been previous con-

tacts. When asked whether

it was the first time he had

spoken with the Taliban,

Trump said, “I don’t want to

say that.” The contact was

another sign of rehabilita-

tion for a group that im-

posed a harsh version of Is-

lamic law in Afghanistan be-

fore its 2001 ouster by the

U.S. and its NATO allies.

The Taliban subsequently

was treated as an interna-

tional pariah until it became

clear the group could not be

defeated militarily.

Trump said he planned

to meet with Taliban leaders

soon, but provided no de-

tails. He also appeared

to give the group a green

light to undertake attacks

against unspecified terror-

ists: “We’ll be very much

hoping that they will be do-

ing what they say they’re go-

ing to be doing: They will be

killing terrorists. They will

be killing some very bad peo-

ple. They will keep that fight

going.”

In September, Trump

planned to invite Baradar

and other Taliban leaders

to Camp David to finalize

a peace deal, but he called

off the meeting after a

U.S. soldier was killed in

Afghanistan. To reporters

Tuesday, he appeared to

suggest that the U.S.-

backed Afghan government

was the obstacle to finalizing

a peace agreement.

“We’ll have to see about

the country itself, but the

country has got to get it

ended,” he said.

Ghani’s government, ex-

cluded from the talks be-

tween U.S. and Taliban ne-

gotiators, now is deeply

nervous that the Trump ad-

ministration is intent on

forcing it to share power

with the hated Taliban,

which has caused tens of

thousands of Afghan casu-

alties.

Trump did not mention

Ghani, but he suggested he

got along well with Baradar.

“The relationship is very

good that I have with the

mullah,” he said.

As president, Trump fre-

quently has spoken of U.S.

relations with other nations

in terms of his personal rap-

port with their leaders, and

his comment was reminis-

cent of previous statements

of warm feelings for Ameri-

can adversaries. He has said,

for example, that he and

North Korean leader Kim

Jong Un “fell in love.”

Trump has repeatedly

promised to bring troops

home from overseas war

zones and has long sought

an international agreement

with multiple adversaries,

openly hoping it might se-

cure him the Nobel Peace

Prize to match the one

awarded to then-President

Obama.

“Other presidents have

tried and they have been un-

able to get any kind of an

agreement,” Trump said.

Obama, however, insisted

that any talks with the Tali-

ban had to be led by the

Afghan government, a policy

that was abandoned by

Trump — angering Ghani

and his government.

According to the Taliban

account of the call between

Trump and Baradar, they

spoke for more than half an

hour and discussed women’s

rights and the possible re-

lease of Taliban prisoners

held by the U.S.-backed gov-

ernment in Kabul.

“I’m glad to talk to you,”

Trump told Baradar, in the

Taliban account. “You are

strong people and you have a

great country and I know

you are fighting for your

land.”

Baradar, who is known as

a relative moderate in the

militant group’s leadership,

said the U.S. and the Taliban

could have “positive bilat-

eral relations in the future” if

the U.S. abides by the agree-

ment.

The White House, in a lat-

er statement, did not dis-

pute the Taliban account.

U.S. strikes Taliban days after peace accord

AFGHAN forces guard an army outpost after a Taliban attack in Kunduz prov-

ince. The U.S. said it struck back in defense of its ally — the Afghan government.

AFP/Getty Images

American warplanes

target fighters

assaulting an Afghan

army checkpoint.

By David S. Cloud