The Military’s Medical ‘Relief Valves’ Remain Mostly Empty in New York. This is Why. By Jada Yuan and Ben Guarino - Washington Post

NEW YORK - The military medical facilities inside Manhattan's Javits Center convention hall and aboard the Navy hospital ship Comfort were touted as relief valves for New York hospitals overwhelmed by coronavirus cases, but both are operating well below capacity, and the city's beleaguered health-care workers have grown exasperated with the pace at which each has taken on patients.

"It's been frustrating watching people reinventing the wheel as they're going along," said Stuart Weiss, an emergency doctor and mass-casualty expert who founded the medical consulting group Intelligent Crowd Solutions, headquartered in Manhattan. "The first day it was like three patients," he said of Javits's slow start, "and then it was four patients, and I was like, ugh!"

The tale of these two temporary hospitals is one of disconnect between public expectations and political declarations, and what’s possible to achieve — logistically and medically — under the circumstances. Covid-19 patients can deteriorate rapidly and suddenly, even when they seem to be on the mend, and often require oxygen for days or weeks. With an increase in the severity of cases treated comes the need for more equipment and staffing. And at the moment, it remains to be seen whether either the Javits Center or the Comfort can adequately care for very many of the most seriously ill covid-19 patients, as state and federal officials have indicated is their new mission…

Read on.

U.S., Taliban Discuss Ways to Reduce Afghan Violence

Ayaz Gul – Voice of America

ISLAMABAD - The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan has met with leaders of the Taliban insurgency under their bilateral peace-building agreement to discuss ways to reduce violence in the war-torn country, both sides said Saturday. 
 
A Taliban spokesman tweeted about the meeting with General Scott Miller, who also commands NATO’s non-combat Resolution Support mission in the country, saying it happened Friday night in Doha, Qatar, which hosts the insurgent political office.  
 
Suhail Shaheen wrote that the two delegations discussed details on how to implement the U.S.-Taliban agreement, which the two adversaries signed Feb. 29 in the Qatari capital with a goal to end the nearly 19-year-old Afghan war. 

 "General Miller met with Taliban leadership last night as part of the military channel established in the agreement. The meeting was about the need to reduce the violence," a U.S. Forces spokesman told VOA. 
 
Shaheen said the U.S.-Taliban agreement’s “violations, particularly attacks and night raids in non-combat areas, came under serious discussion.” He added that the Taliban delegation “called for a halt to such attacks.” 
 
In a recent statement, the U.S. military denied insurgent allegations of breaches, noting the agreement allows foreign troops to act in defense of Afghan security forces if attacked by the Taliban. 
 
The accord binds insurgents not to attack U.S.-led foreign forces, who have committed to gradually withdraw from Afghanistan by July 2021, in return for Taliban counterterrorism guarantees.

The “conditions-based” troop drawdown also requires the Taliban to negotiate a sustainable peace and power sharing with other Afghan factions to end four decades of hostilities in the country. 
 
The Taliban and Washington both have said they are fully committed to uphold the agreement, which offers the best chance for Afghan peace, analysts say.  
 
But a lingering political dispute over who has emerged as the legitimate president of Afghanistan following the controversial September election, and a delay in releasing thousands of Taliban prisoners by the Kabul government, have blocked efforts to open the crucial peace talks between Afghan parties to the conflict.  
 
Incumbent President Ashraf Ghani has been officially declared the election winner, but his chief rival Abdullah Abdullah rejected the outcome as fraudulent, and both held competing inauguration ceremonies last month.  
 
The standoff has politically paralyzed the turmoil-hit country, with both the rival leaders seemingly not ready to give up their claims.

Under the U.S.-Taliban deal, the intra-Afghan talks were supposed to begin several weeks ago.  
 
The insurgent group maintains those negotiations can start only after Washington, as part of its commitments, helps to get the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners from Afghan jails.  
 
The Taliban has committed to free 1,000 detainees, mostly Afghan security forces, from its custody. Discussions over the prisoner swap collapsed earlier this week, although the Afghan government has since freed 200 Taliban detainees after seeking written assurances the freed men would not return to the battlefield. 
 
But the Taliban has disapproved the release process, saying it violates provisions of the deal with the U.S., which requires unconditional freedom for insurgent inmates.