Page 1006 - Leverage News Today

Fragmented. and youre not just trying to get two people to sit down at the negotiating table potentially in a years time, you might be trying to get five different people to sit down at the negotiating table. what i dont think is clear yet i think the taliban believes from what weve seen and heard that they can win an outright victory. but its not completely clear to me yet whether they want to indeed take kabul, take the entire country over. i do still think the one bit of leverage that the u.s...

So this wasnt just something that snapped when president biden made the decision. this was something that had been coming apart for a long time. one of the key trigger points is when president trump decided he would try to do negotiations. and you simply are not -- it is just not possible to do negotiations the way they were being proposed. we are also pulling out and losing your leverage. the only remaining leverage we had was you guys are nice and let us leave quietly, maybe well give you some...

Yet. i think the taliban believes, from what weve seen and heard, that they can win an outright victory. but its not completely clear, to me, yet, whether they want to, indeed, take kabul. take the entire country over. i do, still, think the one bit of leverage that the u.s. has in terms of the peace talks in doha other than the air strikes is the idea of recognition by the international community. i dont believe the taliban wants to be an international pariah, once again, as it was in the 90s. ...

Rightly that was the period when uk forces took over helmand. what are your thoughts now?— your thoughts now? many years on seeinr your thoughts now? many years on seeing that — your thoughts now? many years on seeing that the _ your thoughts now? many years on seeing that the taliban _ your thoughts now? many years on seeing that the taliban are - your thoughts now? many years on seeing that the taliban are going i seeing that the taliban are going to be taking over. it seems if the battlef...

Are offering them legitimacy while they negotiate a deal while theyre on the ground marching toward the capital. >> yeah, andrea, the question of leverage is central here. the calendar has speeded up as kelly and the admiral indicated that the pretty dire estimate from several months ago that kabul was in danger of falling in maybe six months or a years time depending on how the taliban chose to play it is now then moved up by u.s. and afghan intelligence analysts and military analysts to someth...

Footprint here. but it makes morale even worse than it already is. and when it comes to the negotiations going on in doha right now, or the attempts to get both parties at the table, it dramatically decreases the leverage the u.s. has. the taliban understands, theres nothing that will stop the u.s. from fully carrying out this withdrawal within the next few weeks. as long as they believe that they can win, theres much less incentive for them to sit down at the negotiating table, make compromises...

Thats not a problem the taliban suffers from. the taliban are ready to die. many want to die. it feeds into their entire ideology which makes it a very complex enemy for afghan forces to confront as we are seeing now. >> the taliban is in the midst of a winning streak at this point. what does that do to whatever exists in the peace talks? >> reporter: right. u.s. represents are trying to get the peace talks going again, but from what were hearing its very difficult to pull that off because simpl...

Negotiating table is almost certainly finding that the u.s. doesnt have a huge amount of leverage with the taliban any longer beyond airstrikes, beyond the promise of some kind of recognition from the international community if they participate in these peace talks. they dont have that crucial thing that allows them to say, you must stop doing this or else. right now, pamela, the taliban believes that they can win this, and they can win this on their own. and so theyre not much in the mood for m...

Happen. i want to thank the senators who worked so hard to bring this agreement together. i know it wasnt easy. for the republicans who supported this bill, you showed a lot of courage. >> the biden administration taking a bit of a victory lap after a huge bipartisan win on infrastructure in the u.s. senate. but celebrations has we said in the previous segment may be pre mature. our nbc news political team points out, quote, theres already a growing standoff between moderates and progressives wi...

Recover some of the territory that has already been lost. but i think at this point everyone on the ground has a sort of creeping grim realization that that is a very tall order indeed. >> what about these peace talks? i mean, they have been talking. is there a potential diplomatic solution to this here? >> reporter: well, there is not a lot of optimism about that. these talks have been ongoing and the u.s. representative has flown into qatar to try to jump-start talks, get both sides sat down a...