The U.S. and the Taliban are negotiating Afghanistan's future without input from Afghanistan's government. How is that supposed to work? 
Two House Republicans introduced a bill Wednesday intending to ensure that a withdrawal from Afghanistan will leave behind conditions for future success. 
The five senior members of the Afghan Taliban who were freed from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in exchange for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in 2014 now face American diplomats and military officials in peace talks over the terms of an American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. 
The framework of the U.S.-Taliban peace deal is likely to fail, and it should raise questions and skepticism rather than optimism. As the Trump administration debates whether to withdraw from Afghanistan, policymakers in Washington should remember that Iran, not just the Taliban, stands to gain from an American retreat. 
The five members of the Afghan Taliban who were released from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for captured American Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in 2014 have joined the Taliban's political office in Qatar, according the insurgent group's spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid. 
The Treasury Department on Tuesday announced steps taken in cooperation with the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) to "expose and disrupt Taliban actors and their Iranian sponsors that seek to undermine the security of the Afghan Government." 
The Trump administration "set a new record" for dropping munitions on Taliban drug facilities in Afghanistan, according to newly declassified information showing a significant increase in American operations in the war-torn country since the White House announced a new policy for the region. House Foreign Affairs Committee lawmakers expressed pessimism Wednesday over an increasingly fragmented Afghan government's ability to combat Taliban fighters. 
Some Taliban leaders are participating in private talks with Afghanistan government officials to jumpstart peace talks, even as fighting endures in the 16-year war, the top U.S. commander in the country said Wednesday. 