On Feb. 21, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that, after two decades of war, nearly 2,500 American deaths, and a trillion-dollar investment, the United States and the Taliban had reached an “understanding” for a one-week pause in violence, to be followed by a broader agreement. Much of the agreement, supposedly taken in “consultation with [Afghanistan’s] Government of National Unity,” remains shrouded in secrecy and secret annexes, but the broad outline is known: America and the Taliban will sign the deal, which will be followed by a U.S. withdrawal and intra-Afghan negotiations in order to bring about a political solution. To borrow an expression I heard in Afghanistan, Pompeo has taken a cucumber, painted it yellow, and now sells a banana. Simply put, President Trump and Pompeo may want out of Afghanistan, but there are problems with the past, present, and future of their deal.

The past is precedent