That more US troops are headed to Afghanistan, some 16 years into the invasion and occupation, is a foregone conclusion, with commander Gen. John Nicholson seeking “a few thousand more troops” in testimony to Congress, and seemingly all recommendations out of the Pentagon seeking escalations of varying sizes.
Hawks outside of the chain of command, however, are seeking even bigger military commitments to the conflict. Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Senior Fellow Stephen Biddle, formerly a part of assessment teams for Gens. Stanley McChrystal and David Petraeus, is arguing for the US to send “around 100,000” ground troops to Afghanistan.
Even 100,000 troops isn’t a panacea for the conflict, with Biddle saying only that such a huge number of troops could convince the Taliban to reach “a settlement that looked like victory by us.” Even the appearance of victory is a lot more than the US has now, of course.
Biddle conceded a 100,000 troop surge was probably not going to happen, but saw the only alternative the US “middling through” until Congress either defunds the war or the Afghan military loses outright.
Former Petraeus adviser Michael Pregent backed the calls for more troops and also argued that a key aspect of the Afghan War would be to find a way for the US to keep troops in Afghanistan permanently, saying the Taliban is too patient for anything short of that, because they’ll “just wait you out.”
Gotta protect that opium.
Right, but at what price? Every war that’s been fought in Afghanistan in human history has wound up in defeat for the invading armies that ever tried to conquer that country. The closest they ever came was taking and controlling Kabul .. Meanwhile, the countryside was perpetually controlled by the warring tribes to this very day.
The USA is the only invading force that’s ever stayed in Afghanistan for over 15 years .. The Soviets, at #2, stayed ten years, before giving up and leaving. The Taliban’s on the rebound, and Islamic State’s now joining in. The USA’s like an individual who takes the same actions every time, expecting different results.
“Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” ~ Georges Santayana, Spanish Writer
For the globalist Deep State empire, there is no price being paid. The public face of the U.S. government and its tax-paying white market economy pays for everything.
Afghanistan’s graveyard of empires narrative is a little exaggerated. Inheritors of Alexander the Great’s empire in Afghanistan survived on their own for three centuries. The Mongols in Afghanistan also outlived the Mongol Empire.
Deep State shadow empire is already well integrated into the fabric of Afghan criminal society and the theoretical demise of the visible American empire would be inconvenient but not necessarily fatal as long as corruption continues to be a dominant feature of Afghani society.
The IS is at its root, a Western black ops entity and is the enemy of the Taliban. For the U.S., its a strawman set up to divide Afghani resistance even as it provides a pretext to intervention.
It’s so comical to hear them always say, Taliban will “wait you out”.
They. Live. There. ::blank stares::
If they wanna go at Iran, they’ll need the 100,000 there and many more.