Trump lays out strategy for disaster in Afghanistan
Put aside all the things he said about Afghanistan in the not-so-distant past (three of which I'll paste at the end of this) and just focus on how ridiculous the strategy is that he detailed tonight.
The objectives: defeat ISIS in Afghanistan, defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan, and defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan. Okay, sounds good.
But then he says we will not be there on an open-ended basis, and we will not engage in "nation building."
In other words, we will shoot people and blow things up for some period of time, and when we "win" (or finally decide to GTFO) we will leave behind nothing—no roads, no water delivery system, no airports, no hospitals...nothing.
This is a perfect opportunity for the three enemies we're fighting to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. They couldn't have written it better themselves.
The people of that country saw us do the exact same thing after we helped push the Soviets out. And look what happened. We saved them from the Soviets and managed to also turn them into a nation that was hostile against us.
We are doing it again. And for what? Even if we "win" as defined by the three objectives noted above, what does that mean for the future of Afghanistan and, as a result, the future of the United States? Does he think groups that are hostile to the US won't swoop in once we're gone?
There is no clear definition of victory here. None. And, in my view, there never will be.
Here are just three examples of Trump getting it right on Afghanistan not too long ago. Now, he has abandoned this rational line of thinking and he's about to make a major mistake.
Link to tweet
Link to tweet
Link to tweet