Why Is Afghanistan Not An Issue In This Year's U.S. Presidential Campaign?

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump [Reuters]

VOA: Afghanistan: The Forgotten War of the US Presidential Campaign

During Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, the then-senator argued that the war in Afghanistan had been neglected because of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

"And that is why, as president, I will make the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban the top priority that it should be. This is a war we have to win," Obama said in 2008.

Eight years later, after surging 100,000 U.S. troops into Afghanistan and then scaling back to fewer than 10,000, there is little talk of “winning” the war. The Afghan government continues to struggle against a resilient Taliban insurgency. And Obama says his successor will determine the next U.S. move.

But neither Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton nor Republican Donald Trump has outlined what they plan to do. Indeed, over the past year the war itself has barely been mentioned by the candidates.

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WNU Editor: Hillary Clinton has completely avoided the issue of Afghanistan in her campaign, and Donald Trump is all over the place when it comes to U.S. policy on Afghanistan. With the mainstream media also avoiding the issue, I suspect that any real discussion will only happen in 2017 after a new President has been inaugurated.