Ahead of talks between President Biden and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Friday said Afghanistan is “not a winnable war” in response to hawks calling for the troop drawdown to be reversed.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) met with Ghani and other Afghan leaders on Thursday. In a statement on the meeting, McConnell called for a “reversal” of President Biden’s withdrawal.
When asked about McConnell’s comments, Psaki said, “The President made a decision — which is consistent with his view that this was not a winnable war — to bring the US troops home after 20 years of fighting this war.”
Later on Friday, Biden met with Ghani and vowed continued support for the Afghan government. “The partnership between Afghanistan and the United States is not ending,” Biden said. “Our troops may be leaving, but support for Afghanistan is not ending.”
President Biden earmarked $3.3 billion in his request for the 2022 Pentagon budget for the Afghan military, a $300 million increase from this year. NATO will also continue funding the Afghan military, and is looking to train Afghan soldiers outside of the country.
While Biden and Psaki say the US is leaving Afghanistan, a US official told The Associated Press on Thursday that Washington wants to leave about 650 troops to guard the US embassy in Kabul. The troops could also support Turkish forces that are expected to stay to secure the Kabul airport.
The issue with Biden’s post-withdrawal plans is that the Taliban are against them, and it could put US troops at risk of being attacked. On Friday, a Taliban spokesman said the group would view a continued US presence after Biden’s September 11th withdrawal deadline as a violation of the Doha agreement.
Who would ever trust any Amerikastani imperialist statement on anything? Why would the Takiban believe anything that emerges from an Amerikastani official mouth?
Win a war!? Dude this is about moving heroin not winning a war! Even Halford McKinder’s dream of keeping a thumb on three major markets and exploiting mountain passes died with the British Army sent to make his delusions a reality. “Save the last bullet for yourself, them girls are going to rip you limb from limb” was Rudyard Kipling’s advice.
Now that the Taliban is in charge maybe opium crops will be destroyed and shipments will stop?
They never defined what “win” would look like. Difficult to do when the nation you are attacking had nothing to do with the alleged offense. The reality is that opium and weapons profits for 20 years is a “win” for those that started the war. With Fentanyl and other synthetics, opium no longer needs to be grown. Sorry Afghanistan.
What will the 650 troops do there, watch TV while playing Canasta in their barrack?
If they’re lucky, and smart.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/how-obscure-app-revolutionized-worlds-corporate-military-intelligence
Off topic. A consumer app has revolutionized global corporate-military intelligence.
What is export tonnage of the opium that is at record levels? It goes ‘north’ rather than to the US. There doesn’t seem to be any data on how much opium is harvested from the poppy fields in Scandinavia that I am aware of. The Golden Triangle was captured in the Vietnam War and the recent coup will not hurt production and export. The Taliban and NATO will come to ‘an agreement’ that won’t include ‘the common folk’, like always.
duh
The partnership between South Vietnam and the United states is not ending; our troops may be leaving, but support for South Vietnam is not ending.”
Could be similar, but as Vietnam was a war to check Communism, and Afghanistan is about drugs, encircling Russia and occupying the space so nobody else does, possibly not like Vietnam.
I am a Vietnam War vet – total waste. Afghan War – money for a few; misery for everyone else.