U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. William Cox, an armorer assigned to the Joint Sustainment Academy Southwest, holds an M4 carbine while providing security as an MV-22 Osprey takes off in support of Enduring Freedom in Zaranj, Nimroz province, Dec. 30, 2011. DoD photo by Cpl. Bryan Nygaard, U.S. Marine Corps. Flickr / U.S. Department of Defense
John Mueller, National Interest: Redefining Winning in Afghanistan
The various atrocities committed by the Islamic State have continued to fuel opposition to the group, but it's still making headway in Afghanistan.
In his recent speech on the war in Afghanistan, President Donald Trump laid out what he said was a “plan for victory” and assured us that “in the end, we will win.”
For all the very considerable expense, however, the American military does not have a very impressive record of achieving victory. It has won no wars since 1945—especially if victory is defined as achieving an objective at acceptable cost—except against enemy forces that essentially didn’t exist.
It triumphed over tiny forces in Grenada—possessed of two vehicles, one of which was rented—and over scarcely organized thuggish ones in Panama and Kosovo. And, although the Iraqi opponent in the Gulf War of 1991 often looked impressive on paper, it turned out to lack quite a few rather elemental qualities: defenses, strategy, tactics, training, leadership and morale—it was, as one general put it ironically at the time, “the perfect enemy.”
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WNU Editor: Stalemate .... followed by negotiations (maybe). My prediction .... it took the rebel groups in Colombia 50 years to agree to a ceasefire .... hmmm .... it is going to take longer in Afghanistan.
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