Donald Trump is Making the Same Mistakes with Ukraine as He Did with Afghanistan

Donald Trump is making the same mistakes about Ukraine as he did about Afghanistan. Just as he legitimized the Islamist terrorist-sponsoring Taliban militia by negotiating directly with them and excluded the Afghan government that was an ally of the United States and granted them concessions ahead of time, such as releasing 5,000 Taliban prisoners of war, the Russian-backed Trump ended the diplomatic isolation of Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, the ex-Soviet intelligence officer trying to restore the Soviet Union/Russian Empire, to discuss a deal to end the Russo-Ukrainian War, without first speaking with the Ukrainian President, and granted Russia two major concessions to appease Putin before: rewarding Russian aggression by allowing Russia to keep the Ukrainian territory it has stolen and leaving the Ukrainians living there under tyranny, and denying NATO membership to Ukraine or even any American security guarantee to deter further Russian aggression. Trump’s deal with the Taliban to end (i.e. lose, instead of win) the war in Afghanistan was to withdraw American troops, of which there were only 2,500 in a non-combat advisory role, in exchange for a promise by the Taliban not to host again al-Qaeda, the Islamist terrorists responsible for the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on American that killed 3,000 people. Trump’s deal undermined the Afghan government and hamstrung Trump’s successor, Joe Biden. The disastrous Trump-Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan allowed the Taliban to return to power to oppress Afghans, after the U.S. had led an international coalition to overthrow it by 2002, and trigger a mass refugee exodus, and allowed al-Qaeda’s leader to live secretly in the Afghan capital, while inhibiting the U.S. from being able to continue to target al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan as effectively as before. Just as Trump’s goal to end the Afghan War, instead of defeating the Taliban, did not provide better protection against Islamist terrorism, his goal of ending the Russo-Ukrainian War, instead of defeating Russian aggression, will only encourage more of it.