The U.S. Military Believes It Will Take Two Years To Drive Back The Taliban In Afghanistan

U.S. Army General John W. Nicholson Jr., center, commander of Resolute Support forces and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, arrives during a transfer of authority ceremony April 29 at Shorab camp in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. (Reuters)

Thomas Joscelyn and Bill Roggio, The Cipher Brief: The U.S. Military Believes It Will Take Two Years To Drive Back The Taliban In Afghanistan

America’s plan of attack in Afghanistan has evolved significantly, since President Donald Trump announced his new strategy for confronting the Taliban-led insurgency and the Islamic State’s inroads in Afghanistan – but the poor state of the Afghan troops, and the inability of the Afghan government to care for all its people are just two of the red flags warning of a long fight to come.

The U.S. defines victory in Afghanistan as a state in which the government in Kabul firmly controls most of the country, and is able to fend off challenges to its authority mostly on its own. Despite some progress, we are a long way from that day, and the U.S. will have to confront some hard truths in its latest iteration of America’s longest war.

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WNU Editor: I have mentioned it before, but sending in a few extra thousand U.S. soldiers and accelerating the training of Afghan recruits is not going to reverse the stalemate that currently exists in Afghanistan. As for General John W. Nicholson Jr.'s view that it will take two years to reverse the gains that the Taliban have made in recent years .... I personally do not see how that is possible.