In addition to a planned increase in airstrikes, reported yesterday, the White House today confirmed plans to loosen restrictions on ground troops, particularly the special forces in occupied Afghanistan, with an eye toward increasingly their direct combat role.
Press secretary Josh Earnest says that the US troops will be “more proactive” in their operation, and while the US is still officially listing the troops engaged in the occupation as non-combat “advise and assist” troops, they will also engage in “occasional” combat operations alongside Afghan forces.
While plans had at one point been to end the occupation by now, the US has put troop withdrawals “on hold” repeatedly as the Taliban gains more territory. With the Afghan military’s losses mounting, the new US commander, Lt. Gen. John Nicholson was keen to ramp operations back up.
Despite that, Earnest insisted the US is not “restarting” the combat role, irrespective of the combat they’re planning to engage in, and are going to try to keep up with the pretense that the Afghan War, some 15 years in, is at least sort of over.
December 3, 1993 The CIA Drug ConnectionIs as Old as the Agency
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/03/opinion/03iht-edlarry.html
Mar 29, 2010 US Soldiers guarding opium in Afghanistan
https://youtu.be/ChIF6yvTL6k
Could well fit into the “China Containment Strategy”:
http://www.unz.com/plee/blood-offering-the-death-of-mullah-mansoor-china-and-the-south-china-sea/
US training? For what, surrender? Afghans can fight before they can walk.
I’ve been you tubing shamelessly. Just saw that when we went into Afghanistan they exported 180 tons of heroin a yr. Now it’s 6500 tons. No. That was what was confiscated. There’s a bunch of stuff there. Not saying that has anything to do with why we’re there. It’s also a great location for so many reasons. And now we have a heroin epidemic in the US. Another kind of blowback. So many people die for our sins. So many dots to connect.
I’m betting Putin and the Russian generals are all sitting back with big-assed sh!t-eating cheshire grins on their faces at this point. They knew when it was time to eat crow and retreat. They knew they were never going to win the Afghan problem. It took them nearly 10 years but they figured it out before it destroyed the Russian Army and bankrupted the country.
I can’t say the same for the current participants. They thought by bribing others to “assist” them it would make a difference. It hasn’t – it’s only sucked others into the morass that is Afghanistan. And now, TPTB have determined that if only they escalated then things will turn around. It won’t.
It’s time for the real journalists out there to back the politicians into corners and demand to know “why?” What is it that is worth the lives of Americans who will never benefit from whatever it is they are dying for? Who is the beneficiary of all this stupidity?
What does Obama tell his daughters when they ask him “why?” Do they even ask? Probably not.
So they’re giving up the charade of “train and assist.” Why? Because the American people have stopped caring anymore. They’ve lived with this insanity for so long they no longer feel anything and this antipathy is what the USG and the warmongers have been waiting for.
The silence from the people is deafening.
You ask: “What is it that is worth the lives of Americans ……….”
Not a good question to begin with. There are higher ideals to consider than those who go to fight in immoral and illegal wars.
The reason you’re looking for is that when the Soviet Union fell there was no longer a deterrent to US led wars in the ME and so the US simply decided to sweep across the entire ME and assert it’s control and power. Revenge terrorism is the result.
On the bright side, the march to power has been brought to a halt because of Obama’s red line speech sellout with Putin. And of course the deal the Obama admin allowed to go ahead on Iran.
And now, anybody who thinks the American people would allow Obama to bring the troops home is naive. Try not to forget that the mindset here on these pages, is not the minset of the American people.
I came by after searching many MSM sites for any mention of the above actions as they might relate to the shootings in Orlando. Not necessarily in those stories, but in their international sections or “related stories”. Nothing. Once again the blame points to the internet. Getting radicalized by the internet. Ties to Islamic jihad. Never a word about simple revenge. If a close relative of the shooter got killed in an airstrike in Afghanistan last week, would we hear about it? If he was upset by hundreds of Muslim deaths in Syria or Libya would it ever be a featured part of the story? Would the questions even be asked? Not unless the reporter wants to lose their job I would guess. After all, look what happened to Phil Donahue’s top-rated MSNBC show.
If your agenda is antiwar then stick around Paula. We are looking for more people of that presuasion in order to cause this site to be less oriented toward the libertarian agenda and more to it’s real cause as named.
I’ve been here for years. I’m a fiscally conservative lefty. That’s all I’ll say about that. I live on the internet. I’d put my bookmarks up against any international correspondent but this is my favorite aggregator.
I hope Obama is happy. He just handed the election to Donald Trump. I am a Bernie supporter and for Obama to do this. Outrageous! Donald Trump just got my vote and I will encourage all Americans to give this POS country just what they deserve.
Once again the USA becomes the biggest terrorists in the world. Don’t expect the military terrorist to come home to open arms. They deserve to have people spit in their faces. What are they fighting for? Toss the whole frigging military in Afghanistan and I will pay a buck if they keep them, why do we want to allow terrorist back in the USA after they murder innocent babies, children, and women? UNJUSTIFIED TERRORISM on the USA part. Since when did we declare ware on Afghanistan? Would somebody please have the Hague STAND up against the Cowardly USA? Would someone please tell me when Afghanistan invaded the USA? NEVER! We invaded THEIR country.
It is the most embarrassing thing in the world to be an American. Obama makes Bush look like a choir boy. Obama is not a president, he is a terrorist. A president doesn’t destroy his own country for greed. Obama is a disgrace to the USA and the 99% of the people of the USA that he does not support meaning WE THE PEOPLE!
All I say is please let the corporations working for the government furnishing the weapons, please use your own dollars. Milk is getting expensive and the USA taxpayers have our own problems, we don’t need military jerks making us pay for an unjustified war. How about fix our streets? Perpetual state of war. Gore Vidal said it perfect.
I would suggest that Obama at least thinks he handed the election to Hillary, and I think he did. Obama, Elizabeth Warren, and a few other high ranking personalities held out as long as they could.
Recognizing that both Obama and Elizabeth know the danger with Hillary would go a long way in helping you to understand what was happening. And so you may think that Elizabeth could have ruinded her carreer by coming out in support of Bernie, you should understand that it would have been quite impossible for Obama.
Bernie represented socially responsible government (socialism they label it) and was opposed by the entire right and the majority of the Dem party. How could Obama have possibly taken a chance on that?
Obama supports Hillary because he has to and because she’s a better chance to take than Trump.
luv from Canada.
Thanks for the condolences! Basically I have watched these elections forever. Sad for those in the USA that weren’t born before 1980 and Ronald Reagan, just basically sleeping his 8 years away and the white house was on overload, George Bush running the Iran Contra out of the VP’s office, all of the government spending on total waste. Allowing the pentagon to declare $1200 toilet seats? Can we really expect our kids to have brains, when the government has none?
The stupidity of today’s youth in the USA is mind-boggling. Too many horrible decisions have been made since those times. It is an embarrassment to be an American. Make you a deal, can we trade passports for a year? Does Canada take in people that aren’t afraid of hard work, don’t believe in killing or hurting other people, doesn’t like guns, but is madly in love with children, music, and animals? I live in Los Angeles, but would give that up in a heartbeat just to get some peace and sanity, which you find none of in the US sadly 🙁
As far as the election go, the people are going to get what they deserve especially, when it is our actual government senators, representatives, past presidents, DNC, RNC, mayors, Obama, these are the people who have destroyed the government by being in charge of the nomination, there is no hope for such a corrupt society . USA puts on a dog and pony show to show a true election, however we the people know we have a rigged system and either nominee is going to destroy the Supreme court.