Afghanistan peace process might take years just to begin, Trump administration auditor warns

The administration’s top Afghanistan auditor threw cold water on President Trump’s plan to broker peace and quickly withdraw American troops from the country, saying that the process might not even begin for years.

“If there is ever to be a true, sustainable peace in Afghanistan, reintegration of the Taliban and other combatants will be a necessary component of that process, whether that process begins days — or years — from now,” John Sopko, the Pentagon’s special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, said Thursday.