President Donald Trump announces his strategy for the war in Afghanistan in an address from Fort Myer, Virginia, August 21, 2017.Thomson Reuters
Michael Yon: Afghanistan: Trump Going in Circles
President Trump thinks he can solve the AfPak dilemma. In his speech, Trump talked about winning. There is no winning to be had beyond safeguarding our national interests.
This is all a distraction from a gigantic problem: China. On our scale of concern, Afghanistan is microscopic by comparison to China and other challenges, yet on our scale of priorities, the price of nation building in Afghanistan dwarfs the price of securing our borders.
Afghanistan is at the periphery of our influence bubble. Pluto. Our footprint is a speck in the Asian beyond. The President called on Pakistan and India to do their parts. How often we have heard this.
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5 comments:
Can someone name the last war America won? Grenada? Panama?
Desert Storm. The liberation of Kuwait.
I would also add the Cold War.
Anon,
Did Saddam or the Baathist party win Gulf War I?
Did Saddam retain Kuwait?
George Herbert Walker Bush's objective was to free Kuwait. He 'made book'.
If Bush had gone beyond Kuwait, then the mandate to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 would have been in jeopardy and alliance would have splintered. For example Syria would have bailed.
Who won Gulf War 2?
- Is Saddam Hussein alive?
- Is there a Baathist party in Iraq?
For that matter is there a Baathist party anywhere in the world?
There was one in Syria, but does it exist. Since the Alawite takeover of the party, what is the Baath Party in Syria except a vehicle for an Alawite clique?
Let's recap. "No, there is too much. Let me sum up."
1) Saddam is dead
2) The Baath Party is in the ash heap of history.
3) The Sunni's no longer have power in Iraq like they did before 2003.
We could officially hand over Afghanistan security to Iran and Pakistan as guarantors.
Now that would be fair to do to Karzai.
It would be unfair to do to the current Afghan president.
Could Iran and Pakistan split Afghanistan into spheres of influence without fighting after a while?
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