If there is anything consistent in Donald Trump’s approach to global affairs, it is the subordination of all normal diplomatic procedure and strategy to his personal whims. No need to rely on the conclusions of your own intelligence officials when you can take Vladimir Putin’s “extremely strong and powerful” word for it. Kim Jong Un testing another missile? No biggie—the North Korean leader “does not want to disappoint his friend, President Trump,” and Trump knows this because Kim sends him nice letters from time to time. Denmark won’t sell Greenland to the U.S.? Guess you’re not getting a state visit from our stable genius any time soon.

Sometimes, as in the case of his refusal to sign on to the G7 communique in 2018 and subsequent Twitter broadsides against host Justin Trudeau, the effect of all this is embarrassment and maybe the gradual erosion of long-held alliances. But at other times there are real, immediate consequences to the president’s gut impulses. Such may be the case with his decision over the weekend to cancel secret peace talks with the Taliban at Camp David, which has caused an uproar both at home and abroad. According to the New York Times, the sudden move is expected to bring a fresh wave of violence to Afghanistan ahead of its elections later this month. The Taliban, meanwhile, have escalated threats against American forces. And at home, even the prospect of hosting those responsible for 9/11 just days before the 18th anniversary of the attacks has infuriated politicians on both sides of the aisle. “Camp David is where America’s leaders met to plan our response after al Qaeda, supported by the Taliban, killed 3000 Americans on 9/11,” wrote Liz Cheney, daughter of former VP Dick Cheney, in a rare rebuke. “No member of the Taliban should set foot there. Ever.”

The latest episode of the Trump Show began, as it often does, on Twitter. “Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday,” Trump wrote. “They were coming to the United States tonight. Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to an attack in Kabul that killed one of our great great soldiers, and 11 other people. I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations.”

The meeting came as a surprise to observers; the administration had already been in the midst of talks with the terror outfit. Presumably, the president had been looking to up the drama around negotiations. But it wasn’t to be—Trump canceled the meeting after learning of a suicide attack that left an American service member dead, telling aides that “we can’t do this.” “This is off,” he said, the Times reported Sunday. His decision to make the canceled meeting public, and contradictory accounts (some officials say the talks were doomed even before the car bomb attack, telling the Times that the Taliban has objected to the Americans’ terms for the peace talks and that differences between the two sides ran deeper than Trump let on), have raised questions yet again about his improvisational approach to diplomacy.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sought to allay those concerns during a tour of the Sunday talk shows. “There’s no more clear-eyed administration,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper. But no amount of reassurance can change the fact that one person speaks for the administration, and that's the president himself. Whatever strategy others in his brain trust may be aiming for, Trump can lay waste to it all in a moment. Such reversals can have dire consequences in places like Afghanistan. As the Times reported, “there has been a sense that the Taliban have been hanging back, hoping a deal would delay the election.” Now, according to the Times, the group may feel emboldened. Is there a plan to address that potential spike in violence? Are peace talks off forever, or will they continue at a later date? Only Trump can say.

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