The U.S.-Taliban agreement is in tatters, held together only by the State Department’s desperation and refusal to hold the Taliban to either the letter or the spirit of the Feb. 29 agreement.

Just two days ago, for example, an attack on Afghan security personnel killed seven in Parwan, the province just north of Kabul. Whereas in most countries, ordinary civilians crave peace, a recent survey of both Twitter and Facebook shows that Afghans are generally opposed to the exchange of prisoners negotiated by special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. Not only has the unequal terms of exchange led to a spike in kidnapping and hostage-taking by the Taliban, but while the Taliban tortures their prisoners, Afghans joke that Pul-e-Charkhi prison just east of Kabul has “won an award as the best hotel of the year.” Simply put and with gallows humor, Afghans understand that what the United States now pushes is not a plan for peace, but rather a thin cover for surrendering Kabul and the nascent democratic order to the Taliban.