Michael Hughes: It may seem enigmatic that during the same period the U.S. government and Taliban made unprecedented progress towards a peace agreement they unleashed unprecedented levels of violence. This is not a mysterious paradox, however, but a direct – and predictable – result of the so-called “fighting and talking” strategy that both sides have embraced.
On January 31, the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) in its quarterly report said enemy-initiated attacks in Afghanistan hit a record level in the fourth quarter of 2019 in the same period U.S. and Taliban officials restarted peace talks.
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