Is This The New American Way Of Conducting War?

An American military trainer instructs an Iraqi soldier at the Taji base complex on January 7, 2015 (AFP Photo/Ahmad al-Rubaye)

Tom Engelhardt, Tom Dispatch: Been There, Done That. The American Way of War as a Do-Over

With General John Campbell’s tour of duty in Afghanistan finished, a new commander has taken over. Admittedly, things did not go well during Campbell’s year and a half heading up the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) there, but that’s par for the course. In late 2015, while he was in the saddle, the Taliban took the provincial capital of Kunduz, the first city to be (briefly) theirs since the American invasion of 2001. In response, U.S. forces devastated a Doctors Without Borders hospital. The Taliban is also now in control of more territory than at any time since the invasion and gaining an ever-firmer grip on contested Helmand Province in the heart of the country’s poppy-growing region (and so the staggering drug funds that go with it). In that same province, only about half of the “on duty” Afghan security forces the United States trained, equipped, and largely funded (to the tune of more than $65 billion over the years) were reportedly even present.

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WNU Editor: My must read post for today.

Hat Tip to Jay for this link.