With signs that a peace deal in Afghanistan is imminent, Joint Chiefs of
Staff chairman Gen. Joe Dunford offered contradictory statements to
reporters on what his position is, at the same time warning it’s “too early“to talk about a pullout but that the plan is worth trying.
“I’m not using the withdraw word right now,” Dunford said, insisting the
Afghan government is not ready to defend itself without a continued US
military presence. That’s not to say he’s rejecting the deal out of
hand.
Indeed, Dunford said that the war desperately needs a “disruption to the status quo” after so many years, and that in his opinion the peace plan is very much “worth trying.”
These positions aren’t totally irreconcilable at this point, however.
With the deal not formally announced, Dunford may not want to be on
record either way, and believes it is “too soon” to talk withdrawal
until the withdrawal deal is reached.
If we are waiting for the Afghan government to be able to defend itself on its own, we aren’t ever leaving. The shelf life for the Afghan government’s survival upon our departure is about as long as it takes for Donald Trump to change his mind about our actual departure.
If you build a sandcastle don’t expect it to keep standing once the wall is taken down and the tide comes in.
Which government is in power in Afghanistan is none of our business. I don’t think American will ever learn to stay out of the internal affairs of other nations. That would be most un-American.
If costs of redeployment were a consideration, the president could send them into Iraq for a time while the Afghan parties work out their differences.