Zack, Jenn, and Alex talk about the historic US-Taliban peace agreement that was just signed as a first step toward ending the war in Afghanistan. They discuss the terms of the deal, the serious obstacles that remain to actually achieving peace in the country, and why, even if it is shaky and possibly already unraveling, the deal is still a really big achievement. Zack gets serious about the costs of war, Jenn geeks out on terrorism (again), and Alex talks about texting with the Taliban.

References:

You can read the text of the peace agreement here.

Here’s an Afghan official saying the US is negotiating the terms of its “surrender.”

This is a really great analysis of some of the major flaws in the peace agreement. 

Here’s the video of Gen. Mark Milley explaining that the peace agreement calls for a reduction in violence, not zero violence. 

We mentioned that the Taliban controls a village on the outskirts of Kabul. Here’s a great piece about that village and what it tells us about the US failure in Afghanistan.

Here’s the photo of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shaking hands with the top Taliban negotiator at the deal’s signing ceremony. 

President Donald Trump said he had a “good conversation” on the phone with the Taliban’s top political leader.

Alex mentioned a piece from the Council on Foreign Relations about the peace deal.

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