With the US seeking to slow the mounting losses by the Afghan military in the southern Helmand Province, the Pentagon has announced a deployment of roughly 300 US Marines to the province, with the fighters expected to arrive by the end of the month.
The deployment marks the largest single deployment of US Marines in occupied Afghanistan since 2014, which reflects the Afghan military’s growing woes in combat. These troops will join smaller numbers the US had already deployed into the area, who were nominally “advisers.”
And while officially, the new Marines are also “advise-and-assist” troops that are being sent in a non-combat role, Col. Matthew Reid confirmed that the Marines are always deployed “with a combat mindset.” Given how poorly the Afghan military has done on its own, it wouldn’t be surprising to find the Marines in combat situations.
Large numbers of US and British soldiers were deployed in Helmand earlier in the war, but officials had withdrawn them largely in the transition away from direct combat missions. Since then, Helmand has been among the major targets of the Taliban, and they’ve captured large portions of the province.
So the USA takes yet another swing at the tarbaby.
The United States of Amnesia, as Gore Vidal aptly characterized its inability to learn from its own mistakes.
America the Pitiful.
The marines are being sent in to guard the poppy crop.
Not a mistake unfortunately. Afghanistan is a very profitable opium growing region for the U.S. and global Deep State. A trillion may have gone in over the years, but numbers indicate more than a trillion has come back out as drug profits.
The American taxpayers pays all up front costs via the Military Industrial Complex, the D.S. takes that plus the profits from the opium trade and never pays back anything.
For Americans who are opiate addicts, its like a kind of double tax and the rest of society pays for that too.
So we have lots more Marines going to Afghanistan to shoot people to ensure that their government doesn’t retake the country, and lots of military PR officials here murdering the truth, pretending a growing rehash of the same old stupid war is nothing new to be concerned about.
Miss V is 100% correct. Her comments are NOT anti-American, yours are.
Your lack of knowledge of US and world history is pathetic. The USA was founded as a Constitutional Republic, not a replica of either the Roman Empire or the British Empire. Got it yet? The Founding Fathers would NEVER wage illegal wars of aggression against any other nations. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson warned the fledgling nation against entangling alliances; and, instead, encouraged friendship and trade with all.
Unfortunately, we’ve gotten so far from what the Founders had envisioned .. The only way to save the USA is to go back to the values of liberty for all, which they envisioned. Our current POTUS pledged non-interventionism, a secure border with Mexico, and the repair of our crumbling infrastructure, as well as overhauling our healthcare and education. Unfortunately, he made a huge mistake by surrounding himself with dangerous chickenhawks, who hijacked both his foreign and domestic policies.
This continues the idiocy of politicians deploying our troops there in small units making them vulnerable to casualties when ambushed by larger enemy units. All that is accomplished by sacrificing a few priceless marines is make it look like the politicos and Generals are doing something besides covering their own asses. I don’t single out Trump because Obama and W also did this. Cowardly, corrupt, and immoral are good words for what our entire political leadership has become.