According to new statistics from the Air Force, the US dropped more bombs on Afghanistan in September
than they had in any other month since October 2010. 948 munitions were
used, up from 783, itself the peak of a summer that started with just
441 used.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper confirmed that this was to be expected,
saying President Trump had ordered the military to “pick up response”
since scrapping the peace talks with the Taliban.
While an escalation of the war was expected after Trump declared the
peace process dead, the reality is that the US had been steadily escalating
the war, particularly the air war, all year long, even as they were
talking with the Taliban, and reaching an actual, available peace deal.
Ironically, President Trump justified scrapping the peace process on the
grounds that the Taliban stepped up their attacks and killed a US
soldier, but the US forces had been doing that the whole time, killing
hundreds of Taliban fighters in the meantime.
The expectation is that the US will continue escalation going forward,
because even though the peace deal remains on offer, escalation has been
the go-to response for years, and officials don’t seem to have much
interest in the pretense of ending that.
Trump’s surge is working. We have turned the corner in Afghanistan. Victory is assured.
America is truly great again, just ask anyone in Afghanistan !
Sure – the expansion of the helipad on the roof on the Embassy in Kabul is near completion.
Trump didn’t want Kabul to fall before our next election. The HUGE push by the Taliban, in the last weeks before Trump called off the peace process, explains much of what happened. (Not Trump’s line about, “they killed our soldiers that one day”) That push from the Taliban assured Trump that Kabul would fall sooner than he expected and he would be blamed. That can’t happen while he’s running for re-election.
Cynical yes, but this is as likely to be true as anything you read today.
Had the Taliban held back or had their attacks been less spectacular and successful, Trump might have been fooled into believing his prior bombing campaign had been enough to keep the Taliban at bay for at least another couple years. But the Odds of Kabul falling during his campaign went up by a ton once it was shown how soft the Afghanistan security really was (you can be assured this was explained to him in detail). He walked away until the timing is right for Himself, that’s my guess.
Trump will bomb and maim and kill and kill and probably announce some kind of peace deal before our elections. The Taliban will sack Kabul during his second term unless of course Trump decides he doesn’t want them to, then it’s back to bombing and killing and the next president will do the same and on and on it goes.
Don’t be surprised if you see something similar with N. Korea. Something will get signed but not until closer to the election, so it will give Trump a bump.
For someone who wasn’t supposed to be a politician, Trump sure caught on fast.
I couldn’t agree more. What was the Taliban thinking? After 18 years, they’re just as boneheaded as we are.
Yet one more proof that Trump is a lame and his promises of “no more wars” is just BS.
Every bomb dropped is a war crime. Every pilot who participates should be tried accordingly.