Friday’s Camp David talks on Afghanistan appear to have ended without a final decision by President Trump on troop levels, as he continues to resist pressure from top cabinet officials to sign off on a massive escalation of the 16-year-old conflict with thousands of fresh troops.
Trump had initially delegated the decision to Defense Secretary James Mattis, but Mattis found a cap limiting his maximum deployment too restrictive. Now, Vice President Pence and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster are also taking up the cause of large-scale escalation, pushing Trump to accept the recommendations of the commanders.
Pence and McMaster were at the Camp David meeting, but Blackwater founder Erik Prince, who has been pushing a “privatize the war” initiative, was blocked, apparently at the behest of McMaster. Trump aide Steve Bannon, another skeptic of military escalation, was sacked outright.
Thus it appears the strategy now is to whittle down Trump’s resistance by exposing him only to advocates of the escalation until he finally makes his decision, and keeping him carefully sequestered from any dissent.
The ever-hawkish Sen. Lindsey Graham (R – SC) appears also to be pushing the narrative that it’s impossible for the war not to continue to be escalated, arguing that the US would have “another 9/11” if they stopped occupying Afghanistan a mere generation after the last terrorist attack.
Lindsey Graham is the senate’s biggest hawk now that mccain is somewhat out of the picture and that scoundrel joe leiberman reitred, Graham’s a crackpot and a war criminal. Under any sane society, he and many of the other war mongers in the Senate and House would be rounded up, put on trial and perhaps even executed under the Nuremberg principles
Those hawks, like all the military-industrial complex and the NY Times, have never seen a war they didn’t love, and they have loved war in Afghanistan since Brzezinski and Carter in 1979.
It is endless…… and as many have said the graveyard of Empires.
On this and just about only this, I agree with Bannon
the only solution is to send graham to the front with a gun and see how long he lasts.
Trump didn’t order this $h1T sandwich. I think despite the advice of all the cooks and waiters he should maybe not eat it. We are to our credit unwilling or incapable of doing what it takes to “win” so we are spending this money enriching our corrupt allies for either a loss or a tie. Not acceptable, they had a good decade in which to form a effective efficient government they didn’t. Time to declare this experiment a failure and let the Taliban rinse out the petri dish.
win what exactly? why are we even there to begin with,do you know? afghanistan is unconquerable. the russians left and laugh at the u.s.
I hope he will be a leader and say “we’re out”, just like he did with the Paris accord. There is no national defense or security reason to be in Afghanistan.
But Trump is new at this. And he has no allies in his administration. And he apparently has not read extensively about the US’s history of interventions and wars, and no broad philosophical principles about foreign policy that I can see.
So i fear that Trump will not be able to resist the generals and the neocon scum that surround him. Sad.
He is the only president or a candidate to have published and publicly outlined his foreign policy strategy. It is the most coherent foreign policy strategy adressing modern times and problems with the present course of globalization. Published April, 2016. The issues adressed are globalization of institutions such as EU, trade agreements, Paris accords and the impact on ability of democratic institutions of any state to maintain control and expect accountability. The issue of fundamental entities of international relations, soveregnity, and secirity, the issue of universality of human rights, regime change delusions, nation building, as well as interventions and the resulting destabilizations of entire regions are viewed from new perspectives. Relations with Russia, Iran, Israel and others are reviewed. It is not a long document, but it is logical and consistent in approaching security from national interest perspective. Regardless of the autorship of the document — it is a groundbreaking in oposing jmperial approach to international relations. He argued for changing the culture in foreign policy, and avoiding the kind of experience that produced the current mess. It is interesting that the media in unison attacked the document, declairing it incoherent, and “embarrasing”. All was done to discourage anybody from reading it.
Who wrote it for him and how much of it does he actually believe or even understand?
i see you want to think the man knows nothing. lol
Why is LINDSEY given so much power? Has he ever heard the word peace?
Sale197s
send ms. lindsey off to the front then see how he feels.
If a new Afghan war/peace strategy has been hammered out at Camp David no one who did not attend knows what it is and that includes Jason Ditz .
Major de-escalation coming, announcement pending, and the Syrian War is over. Trump is delivering some hope for peace which Clinton would have never delivered.
The Syrian war will be over when we leave and that isn’t happening. Troops in Iraq forever. Starving people in Yemen. Threatening Venezuela. Not to mention NK. Oh and the planned decertification of Iran’s compliance to the nuke deal. Sounds like exactly what Clinton would have delivered.
you left out the philippines
Yea social justice warriors Antifa look at the positives of Trump !
There is no legitimate reason for the US to be in Afghanistan. We all understand the not so secret reason is to reap enormous drug money and to plunder Afghanistan’s natural resources. Without any clearly stated military objective, American will never end their occupation.
They have land that makes a good route for oil pipelines, and land good for opium production, and good distribution channels to get the opium to the CIA for worldwide distribution, and land richer than most, with valuable minerals to extract and make the worlds 1% even more wealthy and in control!
What you say is correct but it’s not a legitimate reason to wage war against another country.
Draft Antifa and give them something to fight – Afghan insurgence!
lol great idea.
Linsey Graham is mentally subnormal – why anyone votes for him I don’t know.
probably the same reason maxine waters gets votes.
its past time to get out of afghanistan and work on the issues in the u.s.
Wrong. He tweeted that a decision has been made. Does anyone have a clue what it was?
shadow party,,
. name soros gave to his taxpayer funded govt employee labor union rioters
we need 75 years..
Obama Holdovers cause Slow Release of Clinton Emails,
Officials from the State and Justice Departments argue they need 75 years as inability to
process and release the Hillary Clinton emails as ordered under a
Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, according to a report.
A U.S. official familiar with the case told Circa “there are still
govt employee labor union holdovers” within the State and Justice Departments who don’t want to
see the emails released,..