Facts Trump did not know about the end of US mission in Afghanistan

Since his arrival at the White House, US President Donald Trump is seeking to resolve a number of issues that he seeks the US government is overspending in, not to mention costing much time and effort, the conflict in Afghanistan is one of these issues.

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday received a letter from US President Donald Trump seeking Islamabad's "assistance and facilitation in achieving a negotiated settlement of the Afghan war", said the Afghani Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry further affirmed that Trump has asked for Pakistan's cooperation to bring the Taliban into talks.

Trump’s request, however, disregards some main facts, including Khan’s own position in Afghanistan in light of the current economic crisis, inflation, unemployment and budget deficit, not to mention that he promised to provide around 4.5 million job opportunities when he first came to power.

In Pakistan, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri said the Supreme Court would decide on the matter of placing Christian blasphemy convict Aasia Bibi’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL).

The government and Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) had recently reached an agreement after which the latter ended its three-day-long nationwide protests against the Supreme Court’s acquittal last week of Aasia Bibi who had been sentenced to death in 2010 for alleged blasphemy.

According to the agreement, the government had promised TLP to “initiate the legal process” to place Aasia Bibi’s name on the no-fly list.

Pakistani analyst Moshref al-Zaidi deemed this agreement a “historic surrender,” especially that Khan stood with the decision of releasing Bibi in the beginning and stressed on the necessity of containing the protesters against the decision.

Moreover, the US is currently not the sole player in Pakistan; in an official visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China is paying a special attention to its relation with Pakistan, which is included in the Chinese economic project, the Silk Road.

China has been compensating for any gaps any of Trump policies might cause in Pakistan, including US suspension of aid to Pakistan last January, claiming that it failed to deal with the terrorist organizations on its lands, as Islamabad is taking procedures against the Taliban movement, not to mention that the Pakistani government is studying the decision to take a loan from China to reform its deteriorating economy.

The United Nations says attacks and intimidation by the Taliban against last month's parliamentary elections in Afghanistan resulted in a record number of civilian casualties.

In a November 6 report, the UN said militants had waged "a deliberate campaign intended to disrupt and undermine the electoral process."

It said at least 435 civilian casualties were recorded -- 56 people killed and 379 wounded -- during the October 20 election and subsequent days when delayed polling took place.

A report by the Washington Post said Taliban is now active in more than 70 percent of Afghanistan, moreover, General Abdul Razeq, one of Afghanistan’s most powerful security commanders, was killed in a shooting attack by a bodyguard that dealt a severe blow to the Afghan government ahead of parliamentary elections.

General Scott Miller, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan who had been at a meeting with Razeq and the governor of the southern province of Kandahar only moments earlier, was not injured in the attack, which he did not see coming.

But Razeq, the Kandahar police commander, and the local head of the NDS intelligence service were both fatally wounded before the attacker was himself killed. Kandahar Governor Zalmay Wesa was severely wounded and contradictory reports about whether he had survived could not immediately be resolved.

Taliban’s operations continued its terror operations as militias have attacked an army base, killing 17 Afghan soldiers and abducting 11 others.

This comes in light of Russia seeking to regain its relations with Afghanistan as it recently hosted talks with Taliban delegates and members of Afghanistan’s high peace council, as the Kremlin seeks a role as peace broker between Islamist rebels and the US-backed government in Kabul.

The meeting on Friday demonstrated Moscow’s renewed aspirations in Afghanistan almost 30 years after the Soviet Union withdrew its battered forces.

These complications and interventions makes the Afghani conflict a dilemma that can only be solved through a clear vision and a political wisdom that the coming days will show if Trump have or not.