Speaking to the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee on Wednesday,
Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Joe Dunford insisted that “I don’t think anybody would want to withdraw our forces from Afghanistan or the broader Middle East more than me.” He then went on to oppose withdrawing US forces from Afghanistan.
18 years into the US occupation of Afghanistan, the situation on the
ground is worse than ever. Diplomatic progress, however, is offering the
possibility that the US could negotiate some sort of settlement to get
them out of the country within a real, measurable amount of time.
That’s not sitting well with Dunford, who insists the US needs to keep ground troops in Afghanistan “as long as an insurgency continues.” He added that there are still 20 extremist groups in Afghanistan.
A potential problem here is that the Taliban are gaining ground, and as
of the most recent Pentagon assessment, the government controls barely
half of the country. The situation is worsening so rapidly, that the
Pentagon decided they’re not even going to confirm territorial holdings
anymore.
The Dunford strategy, then, is to hold out for a win that clearly is
never going to happen, and would almost certainly derail negotiations to
get the US out of Afghanistan. While most of the country has clearly
lost its appetite for the Afghan War, it seems at least some of the
military brass want to hang on indefinitely.
I presume if the generals want to stay until resistance to the invasion & occupation ceases to exist. Which would mean forever. Dumbford might wanna read a little history of Invasions of that country. They don’t tend to go very well for the invaders, and in fact they go really badly. Better get out while there is some chance of cutting the losses at an exitentially acceptable number…. The alternative ain’t very pretty…!!!!!
The British exit from Afghanistan comes to mind. There are more parallels with that attempt than there are with the Soviet debacle of the 20th century.
Dunford the dunce is typical of US military bone-heads. A career apple-polisher and bag-man for the MIC.
What do we care if there are 20 extremist groups still there? We’re negotiating with the Taliban who we’ve been calling extremists for 18 years.
The is no insurgency in Afghanistan unless you consider the American presence as such.
Jeez, what a surprise-us military (“leadership”, not the troops on the ground) wants more war;
wants to stay until no more insurgency, in other words, forever.
I’m guessing it hasn’t dawned on anyone that the insurgency exists only because we are there? Exit America = no insurgency. It really is THAT simple, people.
There is no plan to win this war. And no way to lose. The plan is not to win. As long as we don’t win, we have to stay, and that’s the point. We have to hold that high ground. Read Sun Tzu. Hold the high ground. It’s key real estate, and it follows the one big rule of real estate: location, location, location. There is no ground higher in Asia than in Afghanistan. And the location is between major Great Game players, including China, Russia, India, Pakistan and Iran. How convenient. Why do you think that the whole area is considered to be “central” to US strategy, administered as it is by Central Command (CENTCOM) – whose HQ is where? Tampa,
How dare people wanna live where the US wants to park its pos army.
All very well, but the US forces are well on the way to getting kicked out.
They will look even more stupid in a year’s time.
Sun Tzu also warned against long wars & wars far from the home country. This war violates many of Tzu”s admonitions. No invading country has had any real success there for thousands of years. The Pushtunes are the real deal & not to be trifled with.
Send the sonofabitch to Afghanistan and make him stay there till the “war” ends. Fucking armchair warrior…
So forever?