These Are The Wars That The Next U.S. President Will Inherit

Ben Watson, Defense One: This is the War Against al-Qaeda the Next US President Will Inherit

Fifteen years after invading Afghanistan in pursuit of the 9/11 attackers, the U.S. is bombing a half-dozen more countries.

On Sept. 18, 2001, Congress authorized U.S. military action against the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks. But next year, when a new president arrives at the White House, he or she will inherit a war sprawled across seven countries — and beyond.

Just days before the two-year anniversary of the start of U.S.-led airstrikes against the Islamic State group, President Barack Obama cautioned that the campaign is far from over. “It should be clear by now, and no one knows this better than our military leaders, that even as we need to crush ISIL [the Islamic State group] on the battlefield, their military defeat will not be enough,” Obama said Thursday during a rare appearance at the Pentagon.

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WNU Editor: As bad as these wars are (and they are bad) .... it is the geopolitical situation that could drag the U.S. into a major war that I am most worried about. A new Cold War in Europe is forming, the Chinese have zero interest to compromise on their territorial claims, and the Saudi - Iran (Sunni-Shiite) conflict shows no signs of cooling down.