This is Intelligence Matters with former acting director of the CIA, Michael Morrell.

Brought to you by Lockheed Martin.

Your mission is ours.

February 29th, earlier this year, was an agreement signed between the United States and the Taliban.

First of all, I think it's really important that people understand a new you-do, that it is not a peace agreement.

It is a withdrawal agreement for the U.S.

The logic of the case was that if we put a firm withdrawal timetable on the agreement,

the Taliban would agree to direct negotiations with the Afghan state,

and that that was the only way we were going to get to such negotiations,

which are the essential way of ending the war.

That has not fully worked.

The negotiation says, you know, we'll leave certain period of time.

If certain conditions are met, but it doesn't spell out those conditions, correct?

Well, the agreement itself doesn't even say anything about the conditions.

People have testified like the best or the Khalil's thought have testified that they are not meeting all the conditions

in a re-evaluated withdrawal program.

The Taliban believes they're winning.

Right now, with the change of our administration, I expect the fighting to get much worse,

because I believe the Taliban will likely do everything they can to sort of box in the Biden administration

to give them as little room for maneuver and choice as possible.

And I think the Biden administration is going to have to think about that a little faster

than they're probably going to want to.

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