The issue is not how much we invested and wasted in 17 years, but whether spending more in the future can be justified.
By: Doug Bandow
The American Conservative
A Marine says goodbye to 1st Lt. Scott J. Fleming during his memorial service at Patrol Base Jaker, Afghanistan, Sept. 25, 2010. Official U.S. Marine Corps photo/Sgt. Mark Fayloga
When President Donald Trump announced that he was withdrawing troops from Syria, shock and hysteria filled Washington.
The screaming grew louder when it was reported that the president also intended to remove half of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, with the rest likely to come home at the end of 2019.
Afghanistan is the longest war in American history, outlasting the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and Korean War combined. U.S. soldiers will soon be deploying to a war that started before they were born.
Today the Taliban is advancing while the Kabul government is in disarray. Few believe that the latter, irrespective of who is president, can survive absent Washington’s support.
Both President Barack Obama’s and President Trump’s Afghan strategy appeared designed to push the inevitable collapse onto a future administration. Never mind that Americans still die in Afghanistan. No official wants to be the one to declare that thousands of lives and billions of dollars to have been wasted.
Yet going into his presidency Trump stated:
“Let’s get out of Afghanistan.”
By: Doug Bandow
The American Conservative
When President Donald Trump announced that he was withdrawing troops from Syria, shock and hysteria filled Washington.
The screaming grew louder when it was reported that the president also intended to remove half of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, with the rest likely to come home at the end of 2019.
Afghanistan is the longest war in American history, outlasting the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and Korean War combined. U.S. soldiers will soon be deploying to a war that started before they were born.
Today the Taliban is advancing while the Kabul government is in disarray. Few believe that the latter, irrespective of who is president, can survive absent Washington’s support.
Both President Barack Obama’s and President Trump’s Afghan strategy appeared designed to push the inevitable collapse onto a future administration. Never mind that Americans still die in Afghanistan. No official wants to be the one to declare that thousands of lives and billions of dollars to have been wasted.
Yet going into his presidency Trump stated:
“Let’s get out of Afghanistan.”
Read more at The American Conservative.
