Speaking at the Foreign Policy Initiative’s forum today, Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of Central Command, praised President Obama for not following through on planned drawdowns of ground troops in occupied Afghanistan, saying he wants to keep troop levels at least this high for the foreseeable future.
Gen. Votel argued that keeping 8,400 troops in Afghanistan more or less permanently was “a very wise move,” and that it would “send a strong message” to the people of Afghanistan that the US believes “the military strategy is working.” The US invaded and occupied Afghanistan in 2001.
The most recent drawdown was supposed to have the troop level down to 5,500 by year’s end, though Obama had previously suspended it indefinitely. There were previous drawdown plans, similarly scrapped by Obama, which would’ve ended the war years ago.
Though previous Pentagon officials, like Votel, continue to insist the strategy is “working,” the war in Afghanistan is getting worse by the day, with recent reports showing the Taliban controls more territory now than at any other time during the war. Afghan forces continue to lose ground, and US troops are being sent to more and more areas around the country to try to slow the losses.
January may find the commander-in-chief saying, “Votel, you’re fired!”
I believe the “strong message” is that THERE IS NO END IN SIGHT OF THE IMMEASURABLE STUPIDITY OF OUR “LEADERS” IN WASHINGTON!
Well the message you are sending is paradoxically, “The military strategy is NOT working”. If the strategy was working, peace and stability would be spreading over the land and troop strength could be drawn down.
The US presence in Afghanistan indicates impotence like a case of Viagra on the nightstand.
Where is Lt. Cornel Custer now that we need him?
It all depends on what “working” means”. and who is the intended recepient of the message. Generals have been picked — from Clinton onwards, by a bipartisan love for globalism. The “human” rights branch is destroying nations by bombs or by IMF, while the global domination branch of the Republican party just like liberals advances the “bunker West” global domination. Both are advancing destruction of nation-state democracy and moving forward with removing gradually legislative and judiciary components out of national controls. This is how EU was formed. As a trade agreement on steel and coal — and gradually expanding trans-national jurisdiction to where it is today. EU can penalize a nation for not complying with financial diktats from Brussels or gor their kindergarten curriculum not being sufficiently sensitive to sexual minorities. Today, US generals believe in a rubbish served by constitutional “scholars” that foreign nationals planning go immigrate to US are already under the protection of US Constitution — hence cannot be discriminated on any grounds. This is patently false — but globalist crowd wants people to be confused between our legislation and something they call “universal human rights”. This is what Trump correctly debunked in his foreign policy strategy speach of last April. Generals today are not scholars as they used to be — and if by chance advanced — they are fast scuttled. The only succesful generals are the ones that can talk a good globalist game. Staying forever in a country is their definition of success. The country has no effective means of ending occupation, and thus will remain a globalist version of Star Wars imperial colonies in permanent state of chaos, crime, and violence. And not a thought is given how this overstretch is affecting the mileage on military vehicles, planes, equipment and people. And while the generals with Bunker West mentality strive to control every conflict between rancgers and farmers in Darfur, monitor every bar fight in Bosnia for the dreaded nationalism, and keep 24/7 guard around monasteries in Kosovo so our deserving Kosovars can have a state, even though they are not yet civilised enough to protect religious minorities and monuments of historic significance. While we may be able to get out of Afghanistan one day — we can never get out of Kosovo. And this success must warm the hearts of our globist generals.
Today, threats will come from hypersonic nuclear gliders from stratosphere — and no amount of dirt holding will change that. And still globists and their financial backers believe that it is more important to keep the globe safe for financial flows, then safe from militants, criminals, slavery, deseases and wars. Trump will.need all of his excentricity and all of his unlredictability to keep both democrat and republican sides of the same globalist coin to smother changes.
strong message of do not mess with the CIA’s opium business in Afghanistan