Will Current U.S. - Taliban Peace Talks Succeed?

Taliban walk as they celebrate ceasefire in Ghanikhel district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan June 16, 2018. REUTERS/Parwiz/File Photo

NBC: Taliban 2.0: Militants talk peace with U.S., but past can't be erased

When NBC News pressed a senior Taliban member on women's rights, he replied: “I just read your message here among the members, and they laughed.”

KABUL, Afghanistan — The U.S. is talking to the Afghan Taliban, the militant group that sheltered Osama bin Laden as he plotted the 9/11 attacks, about ending America's longest war.

More than 2,400 American troops have been killed in Afghanistan in the 17 years since the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban government. Tens of thousands of civilians have also died in the violence.

President Donald Trump says he wants to withdraw the 14,000 Americans still in the country. About one-third of Afghanistan is now thought to be controlled or contested by the Taliban.

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WNU Editor: I have zero confidence that these talks will succeed. The Taliban have always been consistent on what they want .... removal of all foreign forces, the expulsion of the current Afghan government, and the imposition of strict sharia law. I do not see them changing and/or compromising on any of these goals.

What Is The U.S. Strategy In Afghanistan?

Daniel DePetris, RCD: Still Missing a Strategy After 16 Years in Afghanistan

More than 16 years after the first Special Operations Forces unit stepped onto Afghan soil, does the United States have a strategy in Afghanistan?

The Trump administration is still trying to determine the answer to that question, which is why President Trump dispatched National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster to Afghanistan for a full review of Washington’s options. McMaster, Trump said, traveled to Afghanistan to “find out how we can make progress alongside our Afghan partners.”

“Progress” is an interesting term, because it’s been used by civilian and military leaders repeatedly for more than a decade and a half as a means to assure the American people that their sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers in uniform are undertaking a mission that is of the utmost importance to the national security of the United States.

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WNU Editor: What's my take. It is now time for the U.S. to leave, and let the Afghans and the regional powers sort this mess out.

Would Legalizing The Opium Trade Help America Win The War In Afghanistan?

Afghan men gather raw opium. (Reuters/Parwiz)

Abigail Hall-Blanco, Quartz: America risks losing the war on terror in Afghanistan unless it legalizes the opium trade

According to a recently released report by the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), opium production in Afghanistan has risen by 43% in the last year. The country’s drug trade employs some 2.9 million people—12% of the Afghan population—and generates approximately $68 billion in revenue a year.

This increase comes despite the fact that drug eradication policies have been a cornerstone of US policy in Afghanistan since the invasion in 2001. In fact, winning the war on drugs in Afghanistan has been described as essential for winning the war on terror. The US government has spent some $12 billion in eradication efforts—more than four times the size of the entire pre-invasion economy. Yet, Afghanistan now supplies around 90% of the world’s opium.

This expansion of the opium economy in the face of such vast prevention efforts is actually a wholly predictable consequence of US drug policy.

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WNU Editor: The Taliban are on a rampage right now in Afghanistan, and while cutting off their revenues from the opium trade will hurt them, I doubt it will be enough to cripple them.

The Afghan Taliban Are Boasting That They Could 'Fight Forever'

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Sami Yousafzai, Daily Beast: Taliban: ‘We Could Keep Fighting Forever'

It’s going to be a long, long war.

ISLAMABAD — The snows are melting in Afghanistan, flowers (including opium poppies) will soon be blooming, and, in what has become an annual ritual, the Taliban have announced their plan for a spring offensive. They have given this one the name “Mullah Omar,” after the leader whose death they admitted only last year.

The Interior Ministry of he U.S.-backed government in Kabul responded by saying “there is nothing new in the Taliban offensive.” But, in fact, this is not the same-old-same-old seasonal war. It is a test of the new leadership under Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansoor whose authority has been contested by some factions. Leaders and fighters who have pledged allegiance to the self-declared caliphate of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) in faraway Syria and Iraq also have eroded the Taliban ranks.

So, as one senior member of the Taliban explained, this year they will not only have to push into new territory, they will have to work to hold on to what they’ve recently taken.

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WNU Editor: And with their safe havens in Pakistan .... this is going to be a war that I will not be surprised if it lasts for decades.

The News From Afghanistan Is Very Bad

Robert Fisk, The Independent: You won't hear it, but news from Afghanistan is bad

Isis men are now fighting in their thousands in the country we arrived to “liberate” 14 years ago, quite apart from tens of thousands of Taliban “pushing” in to their “heartland” around Sangin

The news from Afghanistan is very bad. No one says that, of course. President Ghani has a “national unity government” that “supports a strong partnership with the United States”, according to Barack Obama two months ago. Sure, Kunduz was captured by the Taliban – but then the Afghans got it back (though minus one American-bombed hospital, along with most of its patients and doctors). Sure, Sangin was captured by the Taliban – but now the Afghan army is fighting to get it back. But didn’t more than a hundred British soldiers die to hold Sangin? Sure, but American troops in Iraq died to hold and keep Mosul – and Mosul is now the home of the Isis leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. And US troops in Iraq died to capture Fallujah, then lost it, and died all over again to recapture it – and Fallujah is now in the hands of Isis.

WNU Editor: A depressing read .... but Robert Fisk analysis is probably on the money. On a side note .... 2016 is a U.S. Presidential election year .... should Afghanistan fracture during the election campaign this would not only damage Democrat chances, but it will also profoundly impact President Obama's legacy.

Kabul Is Becoming More Dangerous

Helicopters ferried employees working with the United States and the international military coalition to and from offices in Kabul, Afghanistan, last month as a security blimp kept an eye on the city. Credit Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

New York Times: Life Pulls Back in Afghan Capital, as Danger Rises and Troops Recede

KABUL, Afghanistan — If there had been grumbling before about the deafening intrusion of low-flying American helicopters in the Afghan capital, the discontent has surely multiplied along with the number of flights: packs of them now, coming two, four, six at a time, starting around 7 a.m., then again at midday and at dusk.

Why so many?

“The American Embassy’s not allowed to move by road anymore,” a senior Western official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the news media.

“If you’re at the airport and you have work at the embassy or at R.S.,” he said, referring to the international coalition’s mission, known as Resolute Support, “they fly you over in the morning and back at night.”

After 14 years of war, of training the Afghan Army and the police, it has become too dangerous to drive the mile and a half from the airport to the embassy.

WNU Editor: A depressing read .... but not surprising.

The Afghan Army Is Losing Its Best Soldiers

Afghan soldiers stand in formation in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan, November of 2008. Photo by John Scott Rafoss of the United States of America. Wikipedia

Kevin Sieff, Washington Post: The bravest man I met in Afghanistan has died. Here’s what he taught me.

During weeks like this one, when it seems the gains of the last 14 years are severely under threat in Afghanistan, I think of Afghan Colonel Mohammad Daowood.

For almost two years, I watched Daowood and his men fight insurgents in some of the country’s most dangerous places. They lacked weapons and helicopters and even medical equipment, all the supplies the Americans relied on to fight the same enemy. But Daowood was undeterred in his pursuit of the Taliban. The first day I watched him in a battle, driving without cover deep into insurgent territory, I remember thinking: That's the bravest man I've ever seen.

Daowood was shot and killed earlier this week in Wardak province, the same place where that battle occurred.

WNU Editor: Another sign that the Afghan war is growing.

As The U.S. And NATO Prepare To Leave Afghanistan, The Country Faces An Economic 'Time-Bomb'

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

AFP: Afghanistan faces economic timebomb as NATO war ends

WNU Editor: You know there is a problem in Afghanistan when you read things like this ....

.... The Kabul government is expecting income this year of around $1.8 billion dollars -- less than the value of Afghanistan's opium crop, which feeds the coffers of the Taliban.

If the Taliban is in a position to bring in as much money (if not more) than the Kabul government, there is going to be a problem. But this has always been the problem .... Afghanistan is a country where the economy functions on foreign aid and the opium trade .... and with foreign aid now drying up, what will be left is the opium trade. That is why talk about an "economic time-bomb" is inaccurate .... from where I stand .... that bomb has already gone off.

Will The U.S. Repeat The Soviet Defeat In Afghanistan?

A U.S. Marine Corps mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle provides security in the Now Zad district in Afghanistan's Helmand province, Feb. 16, 2014. The vehicle is assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment. The unit supported Afghan forces conducting an operation in the area. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Sean Searfus

How Not To Repeat The Soviet Defeat In Afghanistan -- Jim Michales, USA Today

WASHINGTON — Over the years, U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have paid close attention to the failed Soviet Union experience in that country as they developed their own campaign plans.

The Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979 in order to prop up a friendly government. They withdrew in 1989 as the Soviet Union disintegrated, leaving the Afghan forces to take the lead in fighting an American-funded insurgency.

John Allen, the Marine general who retired last year after serving as the top coalition commander in Afghanistan, said a study of the Soviet war in Afghanistan produced key lessons.

"I sought to apply those in the recommendations I made ultimately to my senior leadership and the president," Allen said in a talk at the Stimson Center, a think tank in Washington.

The key lesson: Without long-term foreign support and funding, the Afghan military and government will struggle to survive.

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My Comment: The problem with outsiders believing that they could impose their will/political system/ideology/etc. on Afghanistan is that the Afghans have a long historical tradition of automatically rejecting the influence that outsiders are trying to impose. .... even if it is in the best interests of the Afghans. The British learned this over a century ago. The Soviets in the 1980s and early 1990s. And now the U.S. and NATO. Bottom line .... let the Afghans sort out their mess by themselves .... and if they should bring back Al Qaeda and their affiliates (which I doubt) who then launch attacks against us .... well then .... make it very clear to them that if they should go down this stupid path again .... they will be bombed and invaded again.

A Case For Nation Building In Afghanistan

U.S. soldiers provide security around an Afghan border police check point for traffic control on a major highway in the Spin Boldak district of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, Feb. 21, 2013. The soldiers are assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment and Security Force Assistance Team 8, Texas Army National Guard. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Shane Hamann

How Not To Withdraw From Afghanistan -- Jim McDermott and Lawrence Wilkerson, Foreign Policy

Lessons from America's other war.

Eleven years of costly war have confirmed that there is no military solution in Afghanistan. As one U.S. commander in Afghanistan retires and another takes his place, it's time to focus on a political and economic transition to Afghan rule. It's time to finally bring U.S. troops home.

In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama announced that 34,000 American soldiers, airmen, and Marines will indeed leave Afghanistan this year. But he provided few details about the withdrawal strategy. As he weighs the options for transferring security responsibility to Afghans and decides on what form the U.S. presence will take beyond 2014, he and his advisors would do well to remember the Iraq war as a cautionary tale.

First, the U.S. experience in Iraq showed that focusing too narrowly on a military solution comes at a high cost. The United States prioritized the buildup of the Iraqi Army, often at the expense of funding for crucial civilian programs in areas such as infrastructure support, governance and democracy, agricultural development, rule of law, and anti-corruption initiatives.

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My Comment: An argument for nation building in Afghanistan even while a war is ongoing .... sighhh .... yeah right.

Is Afghanistan 'Facing Civil War When US Troops Leave'?

A U.S. service member assigned to Provincial Reconstruction Team Farah shares a laugh with villagers while conducting interviews during a civil affairs mission in Dizak village in Afghanistan's Farah province, Sept. 12, 2012. U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Benjamin Addison

Afghanistan 'Facing Civil War When US Troops Leave' -- The Telegraph

Afghanistan will slide back into civil war when American troops leave, according to a key insurgent negotiator who says peace talks now have no chance of success.

Ghairat Baheer, a senior figure in Hizb-i-Islami who has held three meetings with US officials in Kabul, told The Daily Telegraph that last week's decision by Hillary Clinton to declare the Haqqani network, an insurgent group linked to the Taliban, has killed off hopes of a negotiated settlement.

He said the withdrawal of US combat troops by the end of 2014 would leave Afghan forces ill-equipped to withstand the combined threat of insurgent groups.

"The Americans have their calculation that if it bring down expenses the lowest level but I don't think the national army and national police will be able to resist. They don't have the morale," he said. "It will lead to civil war."

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My Comment: After 11 years of war .... billions spent .... thousands killed .... a U.S. withdrawal will only accelerate what has been the situation in Afghanistan for the past 30 years .... a continuation of sectarian and tribal strife and conflict.

Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials On The War In Afghanistan -- March 27, 2012

Another Side Of Afghanistan -- Larry Towell, Time

Back in 2008, photographer Larry Towell’s agency, Magnum Photos, had contacted him about a project in Afghanistan that would require him to embed with the British military. Towell, having just completed work in Palestine, decided that he didn’t want to see Afghanistan for the first time with an embed, and instead set forth to see the country on his own. “It was important for me to learn more about the history of Afghanistan to get some perspective about what’s going on today and see if I even had anything to say,” says Towell, who was later awarded a Magnum Emergency Fund to aid his work. From 2008 to 2011, Towell traveled to Afghanistan five times, documenting in both photographs and videos the various social issues that plague its citizens, from drug addiction and poverty to the prevalence of landmines, many of which still remain from the Soviet occupation of the country during the 1980s.

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Commentaries, Opinions, Analysis, And Editorials On Afghanistan

US defeat won’t be Afghan victory -- Pervez Hoodbhoy, Express Tribune
War Chief: Afghans Will Take Combat Lead Next Year -- Danger Room
Nato deaths raise tension over Afghanistan strategy -- Nick Hopkins, The Guardian
Rushing for the exits: The wrong lesson of A’stan -- Arthur Herman, New York Post
War Fatigue -- Mark Thompson, Time
Afghans do not want the tanks to leave, and nor should we -- Jillian Hocking, Sydney Morning Herald
O'Hanlon: My interview with General John Allen -- CNN
Kandahar massacre par for the course in Afghanistan -- Jean MacKenzie, Global Post
War Atrocities in Afghanistan: Who Is Blameworthy? -- Mark C. Russell, Huffington Post
Could we leave Afghanistan early? -- Juan Williams, FOX News
Who’s Going to Foot This Bill? -- Chuck Spinney, Time
Afghanistan and the long war -- George Friedman, Business Insider/Stratfor
How Would A President Romney Handle Afghanistan? -- Ari Shapiro, NPR
Obama’s ambivalent leadership on Afghanistan -- Michael Gerson, Washington post
Another Side of Afghanistan by Larry Towell -- Time
Afghanistan: Calm thoughts in hard times -- Ronald E. Neumann, The Hill
US counts the cost in Afghanistan -- Alan Fisher, Al Jazeera
Time to cut our losses in Afghanistan -- E. Thomas McClanahan, Kansas City Star/McClatchy News
Civilian Massacres and Koran Burnings: A Tale of Two Misdeeds in Afghanistan -- Aryn Baker, Time
Analysis: Why the aid drawdown in Afghanistan could be a good thing -- IRIN
Robert Bales and the Twin Lessons of Afghanistan, 170 Years Apart -- Mort Rosenblum, New York Times
Britain's war cemetery in Kabul is a sobering reminder of our sacrifice in Afghanistan -- Con Coughlin, The Telegraph
Sustaining success in Afghanistan -- John McCain, Joseph I. Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, Washington Post
Don’t Stay the Course: A response to McCain, Lieberman, and Graham -- Andrew C. McCarthy, NRO
Charges in Afghan Shooting Will Be Start of Long Legal Journey -- Yochi Dreazen, The Atlantic

Ignoring The Real Strategic Issue On Afghanistan

Members of the Nagarhar Agribusiness Development Team, which includes U.S. troops, and members of the U.S. Agency for International Development meet with the owner of a hydro-electric facility for an inspection in Jalalabad City, Afghanistan, March 18, 2012. The agency's mission supports initiatives to ensure the sustainability of Afghan agricultural productivity. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Greg C. Biondo

The Next War In Afghanistan -- Washington Times editorial

Republicans ignoring the real strategic issue.

American troops will soon leave Afghanistan. What could become a key policy question for the 2012 election is, what will happen after they depart?

A series of new polls show that the public wants to wash its hands of Afghanistan. The trend was well-established even before recent anti-American riots and the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians, allegedly at the hands of Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. When Mr. Obama took office, a majority still believed that the war was worth fighting, but his lackluster performance in prosecuting the “war of necessity” has convinced them otherwise. An ABC News/Washington Post poll from the first week in March shows just 35 percent consider the war worth fighting, and 60 percent do not. A March Pew Research Center poll found similar results, with 35 percent saying the coalition should remain in force until the country is stabilized and 57 percent wanting forces pulled out now. A USA Today/Gallup survey concluded 24 percent wanted forces out by the 2014 deadline, and 50 percent wanted to speed up that timetable.

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My Comment: The key points in this editorial. (1) The majority of Americans want US forces to leave Afghanistan. (2) The approaching civil war will be ugly, probably killing more people in the first year than in the past 10 years of conflict. And (3) if the wrong players persevere and win in Afghanistan .... U.S. forces may be dragged back into Afghanistan.

Former Soldiers Comment On Staff Sgt. Robert Bales' Alleged Massacre Of Afghan Civilians

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales checking identity papers during a training exercise at a mockup of an Afghan village at the National Training Center in California last August. The photo appeared in a military publication, High Desert Warrior. | U.S. Army

Former Lewis-McChord Soldiers Weigh In On Bales -- McClatchy News

Two former Stryker soldiers who've gone on multiple combat deployments and dealt with the trauma that can follow them offer divergent perspectives about whether such experiences could have played a role in Staff Sgt. Robert Bales' alleged massacre of Afghan civilians.

“It’s not shocking to me,” said Kevin Baker, a former staff sergeant with Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. “There are hundreds, if not thousands, of soldiers who are screaming for help, but they aren’t getting it. And this was what, his fourth deployment? That’s pretty ridiculous.”

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My Comment: What`s my take .... I cannot even imagine what was going through Staff Sgt. Robert Bales mind when he left the base and committed these acts. What I do know is that suicide rates, PTSD, drug and alcohol abuse, broken families .... this is going to be the American legacy of the Iraq and Afghan wars .... and as for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales`s and his crimes .... that will represent the worse part of America`s legacy in these wars.

Repeating History In Afghanistan

Repeating Iraq’s Mistakes In Afghanistan -- Michael Kamber, The Good Men Project

War correspondent Michael Kamber paints a grim picture of the war in Afghanistan, which has learned nothing from the war in Iraq.

I left Iraq in January after covering the war on and off for nine years. Fortunate enough to be present at the withdrawal this past December, I learned many things in my years there. I have also worked in Afghanistan and, as I watch the news from there—the cold-blooded massacre of 16 civilians, the burning of Korans by American soldiers—I realize my painful lessons from Iraq are directly relevant to our current situation in Afghanistan. The most important of these lessons is the need for clear-eyed assessment and an end to what I term “magical thinking” on the part of American leadership.

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My Comment: The best line from Michael Kamber's analysis ....

.... We must come to terms with the crucial fact that two opposing groups of fighters—taken from the same pool of Afghan men—are enormously divergent in their capabilities: those villagers that join the Taliban have fought the greatest army on earth to a standstill for a decade, those that join the US-trained Afghan army are incompetent, unmotivated and routinely turn their weapons on US soldiers.

Indeed.

Update: Michael Kamber has put together an impressive photo gallery of his work in Iraq and Afghanistan. The link to it is here.

Afghanistan: How The 'Hell' Did We Get Here?

U.S. troops from the 101st Airborne Division survey the Afghan-Pakistan frontier from Paktika province, Afghanistan. Army photo/Spc. George Hunt

Afghanistan: A Gathering Menace -- Neal Shea, American Scholar

Traveling with U.S. troops gives insights into the recent massacre.

The soldiers around me were barely visible, but I could smell them. They had not washed for days, and a sharp musk of sweat and sleeplessness, tobacco and chemically mummified food, wove through the fields and orchards. It was after midnight, moonless, the stars brilliant but unhelpful. The soldiers wore night-vision goggles, but I did not, so I stumbled after their scent along the remote edge of a fading war, envisioning things I could not see.

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My Comment: After finishing this article .... even if you may disagree with it .... you will have a moment where you will ask .... what the 'hell' are we doing there.

Is Alcohol A Problem On U.S. Bases In Afghanistan?

Photo from Adelaide Now

In Afghan Killings Case, Questions Over Alcohol -- Bloomberg Businessweek/AP

The U.S. military bans alcohol for its troops in Afghanistan, but that doesn't stop some soldiers from having a bottle or two stowed away in their gear -- a fact highlighted by investigators probe into whether alcohol played a role when a U.S. sergeant allegedly carried out a killing spree that left 16 Afghans dead.

U.S. investigators have determined that the suspect had been drinking alcohol prior to leaving the base the night of the attack, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday. How much of a role alcohol played in the attack is still under investigation, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because charges have not yet been filed.

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My Comment: I hope that I am wrong .... but I suspect that drug and alcohol abuse is more rampant than what we are being told.

Can U.S. And Afghan Special Forces Salvage The Afghan War?

A coalition special operations forces service member defends his position from insurgent small arms fire during a firefight in the Sar Kani district of Afghanistan's Kunar province, March 7, 2012. A force of more than 100 Afghan commandos and coalition special operations forces searched an Afghan village for weapons caches and insurgents. U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Clayton Weis

Can These Commandos Salvage The Afghan War? -- Danger Room

Part one of a two-part series.

LAGHMAN, Afghanistan — The American Special Forces officer was having what one colleague says was the worst day of his war tour. And that was before the Soviet-made anti-personnel mine packed with 700 ball bearings exploded at his feet.

A weapon like that can turn a man into “pink mist,” the officer says.

It was late September outside the town of Mehtar Lam, in this hilly province just east of Kabul. The officer from the Germany-based 10th Special Forces Group — let’s call him “Tom” — had been leading his patrol of U.S. commandos and Afghan police trainees on the long walk back to base following a disappointing encounter with Taliban fighters in which half of the trainees failed to fight back.

Tom glimpsed a mound of disturbed earth and, not thinking, approached it.

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My Comment: What's my opinion .... I am not so optimistic. Afghanistan is a huge country with millions of people and a geography that is both harsh and forbidding. Throw in a few thousand U.S. Special Forces with a larger contingent of Afghan forces may tip a major battle or two .... but in the greater picture it will not have a significant impact on the war. Afghanistan's problems start from the top down .... corruption, tribal/religious differences, drug lords and Al Qaeda related groups .... throw into this mix the different Taliban groups who are dedicated to the overthrow of the Karzai government and couple this with the ingoing interference from Pakistan's ISI .... you cannot help but feel that it is impossible to get ahead.

Afghanistan has to be seen as a long term project .... a conflict that is going to last for decades and that will consume both blood and treasure at an alarming rate. But do we in the West have the will to last that long .... hmmmm .... no .... and .... quite frankly .... neither should we.

Is The Fragile Relationship Between Washington And Kabul Unraveling?

The Divide Between Occupier And Occupied -- Al Jazeera

After a week of bloodshed in Afghanistan, we ask if the fragile relationship between Washington and Kabul is unraveling.

A week of protests and a week of bloodshed. There appears to be no end to the anger being expressed in Afghanistan over the burning of the Quran by US troops at Bagram Air Base.

Despite repeated apologies from Barack Obama, the US president, and others in his administration, the incident is threatening to rip apart some of the fragile relationships that exist in the country.

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My Comment: Is the U.S. - Afghan relations unraveling? My answer .... was there ever a relationship to begin with?

As to where are we going next .... many (if not most) Afghans want us out. But here is the surprise .... even more Americans want us to be out of Afghanistan .... this blogger included. With little common ground between the two countries, I have trouble seeing how we can justify our presence there .... especially to this growing American sentiment of wanting our troops home now.

A Prescription For More War In Afghanistan

Soldiers from the 8th Commando Kandak clear a room during a training exercise in Tarin Kowt district, Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, Feb. 14. The 8th Commando Kandak partners with coalition Special Operations Forces to conduct operations throughout Uruzgan and Zabul provinces. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jacob L. Dillon)

More Afghan Cuts, More War -- Max Boot, L.A. Times

Leaving 120,000 demobilized Afghan troops and cops without a paycheck and with few legitimate job options in an anemic economy would be a recipe for disaster.

What is the logic behind the Obama administration's policy toward Afghanistan? On its face, it makes no sense.

In 2009, President Obama ordered a major buildup of forces to counter alarming gains by the Taliban and the Haqqani network. The number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan increased from 34,000 when he took office to nearly 100,000 in 2010. To oversee the buildup he sent two top Army generals,Stanley A. McChrystal and thenDavid H. Petraeus, to design and implement a comprehensive counterinsurgency plan that the president signed off on.

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My Comment: One of the biggest mistakes in the Iraq war was the decision by Paul Bremer .... the top U.S. civilian administrator at the time .... to dissolve the Iraqi army as well as the Defense and Information ministries. By throwing hundreds of thousands of men with military expertise onto the streets with no paycheck and no prospect of work was not only criminal .... but it was to me an action that all but guaranteed the disaster that then unfolded.

Is throwing 120,000 Afghan men with military training onto the streets with no paycheck and no prospects for work an act that is repeating the same history that happened in Iraq ....you tell me.