The Russiagate party trying to pivot from their Afghanistan failure by looking to Putin for help is a perfect train wreck. 

This whole plan would work better if Biden and his people understood any kind of strategic leverage. After President Trump refused to renew the hoax arms control accord without Russian concessions, Biden signed it and gave Putin a free gift he wanted.

Had he not done something that stupid, he might at least have something to bargain with. 

The disclosure to lawmakers on Tuesday came just hours after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged that the U.S. has asked Russia for “clarification” about an offer from President Vladimir Putin to host the U.S. counterterrorism operations on Russian military bases in central Asia.

Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also described to senators the nature of his conversations with his Russian counterpart, Valery Gerasimov, the senators added. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Milley raised the issue with Gerasimov, but the further details of the talks have not been previously reported.

So long as Milley promises to tip off Gerasimov about any planned attacks ahead of time.

That the U.S. finds itself potentially relying on Moscow for its counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan is a stunning turn of events, after the U.S. withdrawal from the country prompted a rapid collapse of the Afghan government at the hands of the Taliban. Housing the operations on Russian bases also exposes the U.S. apparatus to intelligence-collection by the Russians.

Which is the point.

If you’re going to leave, just leave. Trying to have it both ways won’t work. 

Afghanistan now belongs to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. That was the inevitable outcome of the withdrawal. And we have to live with the consequences. Trying to maintain any kind of presence would require a deal with some kind of devil, whether it’s Pakistan, Russia, one of its allies, Iran, etc that will end up costing us dearly. It didn’t have to play out quite this way, but it did. And now it’s done.

Besides the Russia option had been shot down earlier.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a June 16 summit meeting with President Biden, objected to any role for American forces in Central Asian countries, senior U.S. and Russian officials said, undercutting the U.S. military’s efforts to act against new terrorist dangers after its Afghanistan withdrawal.

“We do not see how any form of U.S. military presence in Central Asia might enhance the security of the countries involved and/or of their neighbors. It would definitely NOT be in the interests of Russia,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov wrote Thursday in a statement emailed to The Wall Street Journal. “This position has not changed against the backdrop of what is transpiring in Afghanistan these days.”

If Russia’s offering it again, it’s because Putin is using the U.S. defeat as leverage. And no sane or responsible leader would pay the price. Unfortunately, there’s nothing sane or responsible about the idiot in the world’s most expensive nursing home.