This effort to remain near Afghanistan just screams to have the question "Then why the Hell are we leaving?!"
Huh:
The Pentagon wants to put counterterrorism forces in nations neighboring Afghanistan to monitor terrorist activity in that country after U.S. troops end their two-decade fight there, top U.S. defense officials said Thursday.
Pentagon officials have yet to strike any agreements to place those troops near Afghanistan after the ongoing withdrawal, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Senate Armed Services Committee. That withdrawal, which the U.S. military said this week was about half completed, could be finished as early as July.
So we aren't actually ending the war by leaving? Huh.
And the Islamist terrorists inside Afghanistan will still be a problem after we leave? Huh.
And American forces are still needed to cope with those terrorists? But doing it from farther away will work? From the distant Persian Gulf from existing land bases and deployed ships? Huh.
But despite being half out already, we don't actually have any agreements to establish such nearby outposts? We didn't do that before starting to leave? Huh.
And if being close is so important, why not just remain in Afghanistan where we were doing the job with an Afghanistan government actually killing jihadis every day?
This attitude is just horrifying:
“Those [counterterrorism] efforts will be focused on those elements that can possibly conduct attacks against our homeland,” Austin said, singling out al-Qaida as his top concern.
So the Afghanistan government is going to cooperate with us as we try to kill jihadis focused on killing us. But the Afghanistan government is on its own to battle the more numerous jihadis fighting the government? That won't cause problems? No? Huh.
And if the government falls or loses completely large chunks of the country where jihadis can build sanctuaries, how does that work? We don't care? Huh.
Ah, the return of Smart Diplomacy!
I could have sworn that Democrats are the ultimate perfect plan fanboys (and fangirls)?
No worries. The media will deny that any problems develop.
Oh, by the way, we'll still have our embassy there:
The number of American troops needed for the overall security missions inside Afghanistan will depend on a variety of requirements, and could range from roughly a couple hundred to a bit less than 1,000, officials said.
