Is America really too tired to defend the gains we made in Afghanistan and prevent a renewed terrorist haven from threatening America--again? If America loses this war, maybe the jihadis are right about Allah being on their side.
The drawdown of U.S. troops from Afghanistan has encouraged the Taliban’s belief that they are closer than ever to victory, analysts and fighters said, one year after a deal was signed with the militant group meant to bring peace to the country.
I never thought Trump's deal with the Taliban could work. Because, you know, the deal was with the Taliban.
Peace comes from helping friendly Afghans kill the Taliban and their terror group allies. And from disabling Pakistani and Iranian efforts to prop up enemies of friendly Afghans. Or at least reducing that help to a dull roar.
Sadly, killing jihadis is like mowing the grass until sane people win the Islamic Civil War to define Islam:
I've noted it before but it bears repeating. The vast majority of the victims of the jihad are other Moslems who aren't quite of the approved kind of Moslem as defined by the jihadi scumball losers. Americans and other Westerners are collateral damage in that civil war within Islam to define Islam.
We have a role in this civil war. One, we need to protect ourselves at home. Two, we need to help the reasonable Moslem people defeat the fanatics so better people define Islam. They deserve as much as we do the chance to live in peace not under threat of death or acid attack for being different.
This requires America to lead a coalition of Western states in killing jihadis abroad and arresting them at home to both protect ourselves and to make it safer for the reasonable people to reject the jihadi version of Islam. This is a holding action, and while necessary is not the way to defeat the source of the problem.
And here's a useful statistic from the initial article:
Some 2,500 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan at about a dozen bases, alongside 9,600 NATO troops and around 18,000 civilian contractors.
A
few American troops leverage a lot of other help to keep mowing the
jihadi grass. We can't just focus on counter-terrorism without an Afghan state--weak as it is--and security apparatus to support going after terrorists.
I know Americans are tired of the war after close to 20 years. Yet don't talk to me about the failure of Obama's surge. It wasn't what the military wanted and even Obama didn't finish the two-phase operation he started. To me it seemed that the escalation was all about politics with no real military point. I was resigned to the surge rather than enthusiastic:
My objectives for Afghanistan have never been high , and I think we could get there without the surge or the risk to our troops in landlocked Afghanistan should Pakistan collapse or turn hostile. But as long as our supply lines through Pakistan hold, a surge can get the job done faster and maybe achieve more.
I hoped something could be accomplished despite my feeling that the surge was not needed.
But despite that shaky pedigree, the fact is it's pretty much an Afghan war now. How is keeping friendly forces killing jihadis who might otherwise be free to attack Americans abroad a bad idea?
And as much as Americans are tired of the war, who on Earth prioritizes getting out over any other concern Americans have?
UPDATE: Biden to Afghanistan: surrender to Taliban on paper or suffer the consequences on the battlefield?
America has warned the Afghan president he may face a renewed Taliban spring onslaught without US troops, unless he considers urgent new proposals to try to jump start stalled negotiations.
Since when did America become the Taliban enforcer?
UPDATE: Good Lord, it just gets worse as the day goes on:
U.S. proposes interim power-sharing government with Taliban in Afghanistan[.]
America will push the government to put the Taliban jihadis into the government?! What side are we on?
People in America are grossly over-stating the ability of the Taliban to win in order to justify abandoning the Afghan government. As long as we provide help to the government, Afghanistan will kill jihadis every day rather than host and protect them as the government did prior to 9/11.
