Expectations were that President Trump was poised to announce his decision on Afghan troop levels and overall strategy back in mid-May, when he was attending a NATO summit. He did not, and Defense Secretary James Mattis today conceded that the decision is likely still weeks away.
Mattis was also a bit more circumspect about how badly the Afghan War is going, amid talk by other Pentagon officials of the conflict being a “stalemate,” admitting in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee that “we are not winning in Afghanistan.”
Mattis promised to “correct” the lack of winning with the new strategy, but indications for months have been that the proposals center around slight increases in direct US involvement in fighting, and likely thousands of additional troops being sent to the country.
Senators, however, expressed increasing annoyance at not hearing any sort of coherent strategy from the administration, with Sen. John McCain (R – AZ) warning that if the Pentagon didn’t provide a strategy for the war, the Senate would end up providing one for them.
The reality is that the Taliban have been seizing territory from the Afghan government for months, and hold more territory now than at any time during the 16-year US occupation. The US has dramatically increased its number of airstrikes in recent months, trying to slow the losses a bit, but so far that appears to be the best they can really do, slow the inevitable defeat in an unwinnable war.
Best new strategy: Bring the troops home. Return the billions of dollars saved to US taxpayers.
The Taliban is not Al Qaeda, they were selected by the CIA for their zealousness in resisting foreign occupation (the Russians). The Taliban will rule Afghanistan again, and the longer it takes, the more that government will act like a terrorist state against US interests, providing safe haven at the least.
And this is a funny thing. Nobody really calls them Taliban any more. Afghan tribal structure has been a confederation of tribes, or local feudal rulers, for ever. And they will eventually regain the control over Central Government. In fact, I am not sure that they are not already in secret agreement. This is why suddenly, ISIS was needed to shake things up, but it will not succeed there. Local feudal structures are very tight knit.
Taliban was an army put together in Pakistan, which once upon a time was nothing more then a recruitment ground for whatever army one needed for money. Thus, Saudi Arabia, founded hundreds of schools, or Madrassas, and recruited thousands of students (TALIBAN), to take over Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda was Arab, and did not fit well in post-Soviet era. But STUDENTS were Pashtun, and armed with Saudi extremist ideology, moved into Afghanistan, got support from local tribes, and took the country over. But now, Taliban does not exist, either returning to Pakistan, going to other missions, or blending into tribes.
So, our persisting in calling Afghan population “Taliban’ is just to confuse the public. Based on what I see, Kabul government is a observer in SCO, and plans have been made already by Kabul and China on cooperation with tribes, economic development, etc. This seems to be a problem to our “must win” crowd, or better put, our “must stay forever” crowd. The idea of somehow Afghan war being over, is unthinkable!
Or perhaps calling them Taliban is to avoid any of the complexity you’ve been talking about, dumbing things down for the American public. Because any serious look at the complexities involved would make it obvious that the US shouldn’t compound the problems of previous meddling with more meddling in Afghanistan.
Regardless of the number of troops Mattis fields, they will not win this undeclared war.
And the last time I checked, I admit it has been a while since I didn’t think there was any doubt, the Senate’s responsibilities do not include military strategy. Now, if McCrazy really, really wants to be in charge of military strategy, then he should don his BDUs, get his shots, and then relocate his a$$ to the AO and lead from the front. Just my opinion.
The USA lost this “war” when they rode a lie into attacking this nation right after 911. The Taliban were willing to give up Osama Bin Laden if the USA could provide evidence of his guilt, but there is the problem- Bin Laden did NOT do 911! Anything built on lies will eventually crumble into pieces and disappear! And I would like to ask Mattis just what “victory” means when you are basically occupying a nation of false premises! As long as you use lies to further agendas, you lose!
And what is a win? Can somebody describe it, so that the strategy is aligned with whatever “win” means? For all politicians there is actually only ONE definition of “win”. Create chaos, get US troops in on whatever pretext and rationale, then stay forever and a day. And if you cannot generate one more war every 5 years or so, then invent “treats”. Russian threat, to arm Europe, to move our troops there, to For most of them, it means money. For some of them, like McCain, it means being a commander-in-chief. The one in White House does not matter in his view of the world. He was the sole initiator, coordinator and general in charge of the ill fated Georgian attack on South Ossetia. Bush just gave him green light, then watched the mess ensue, Russia occupying the entire country before McCain blinked, his protégé, Saaskavilli — chewing his tie on TV, out of sheer fear and panic. Russia destroyed Georgia’s military capacities, and withdrew. South Ossetia and Abkhazia declared independence. US sent France’s Sarkozy to smooth things out.
It was a crazy schema, by a rash and stubborn McCain, and the naïve lawyer, US protégé, president of Georgia. They were in shock that Russia reacted. What were they drinking? Attacking Russian peacekeepers that were in South Ossetia within UN plan. And then, proceeding to push population out of the country, not realizing that the desire to have this undesirable minority out of “their” country, was a means of Russia’s ability to enter by land, via the only tunnel, Roki, that connects South and North Ossetia. So much for grand strategist, McCain. They should have at least made it difficult for Russia to send ground forces by mining the tunnel. And Russia did not even have to use much of its power. The nearby 6th division, stationed in Chechnya did the job, not perfectly, and with some loses, but they did not even have to engage any of their elite forces.
Ukraine is a fine mess. Russia just needs to let Kiev pass more anti-Russian laws, and the elite there has never been more divorced from the reality then today. And divorced from the views of the population. This a victory? One more such McCain victory, and we will reap the fruit of what we planted.
Afghanistan is, and forever will be, the “graveyard of empires.” The Soviets got their tails kicked there despite using the same “kill anything that moves” ROE that the US adopted in Vietnam. There were even reports in the early 1980s that the Soviets were using chemical weapons. In the end it was futile. So it will be for the US and its “coalition.”
Empire builders — Maximizing ecstasy
We look at the situation as one where our sadistic military loves bombing innocent babies to increase war funding and criminal bankers use capitalism as an excuse to sub-prime bankrupt the poor.
But not so the joy-stick jockeys who pilot our drone killers, for programmed since pre-school are they to waste anyone who stands in the way of their best interest.