President Trump orders troop reductions in Afghanistan.

US Troops patrol near an ANA base. Reuters. 

President Trump has ordered troop reduction in Afghanistan, with at least 5000 to head home. Reuters. The move comes after President Trump ordered a complete withdrawal from Syria. The decisions may have led to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to tender his resignation. The remaining troops in Afghanistan will likely have to reduce their efforts in training and assisting the Afghan government. Peace talks with the Taliban are ongoing though the military situation in Afghanistan is not good. 

My Comment:

I'm of two minds of this. I have long said that the effort to win in Afghanistan is pretty much over. There is little chance of a military victory at this point unless we deploy hundreds of thousands of troops. The Taliban is a dedicated and formidable enemy and the Afghan military is a joke. Indeed, if it wasn't for ISIS, it's pretty clear that the Taliban probably would have won a military victory. Our best hope now is a political sentiment.  

On the other hand, losing Jim Mattis is a pretty big blow. He is one of America's best generals and was doing a good job as Defense Secretary. He is beloved by the troops and is an American Hero. Losing him is a bitter pill to swallow, even if it was clear that he and Trump were not on the same page. 

But it is also clear that Mattis wasn't succeeding in Afghanistan. He was handicapped by the fact that both President Trump and the American people wanted nothing to do with the massive deployments that could win the war. Still, it seemed that nothing our government does seems to affect much on the ground in Afghanistan. Mattis was successful in Syria and Iraq but could never get Afghanistan under control, a flaw that he has shared with every other secretary of defense since the war began. 

I do think it is time to pull out. Our goal in Afghanistan was to destroy al-Qaeda and kill Osama Bin Laden. Al-Qaeda is now nothing more than a bad memory and Bin Laden has long since disappeared into the ocean. Defeating the Taliban and propping up the Afghani government was always an example of mission creep and since that mission creep has lasted through 17 years and three presidents, enough is enough. 

Furthermore, I don't think there is a military solution that can be had. In theory if we pulled out all the stops, deployed thousands of troops, carpet bombed villages and generally acted like conquerors, there is a small chance we could win. But Afghanistan is the place where empires go to die and there is no reason, will or money to do what would be needed to win the war. 

I also am not surprised that President Trump is ordering pullouts. People that are surprised by this are, once again, not paying attention. Trump campaigned on pulling out of Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. He has already pulled out of Iraq and is in the process of doing so in Syria. This was a campaign promise for Trump and it is amazing to me to think that people are surprised that he is doing this. It was the mandate he was elected for in terms of foreign policy. 

Finally, it is amazing to me that the anti-war faction of the Democratic Party is completely dead. It was very active during the Vietnam era and during the presidency of George Bush. It went completely dormant during the Obama years and nobody ever protested his wars in Iraq, Syria, Libya and many other countries. 

But now? The same pundits who claimed the Iraq War was an illegal invasion and that going to war in Afghanistan was a huge mistake are now calling for keeping troops in Syria and Afghanistan indefinitely. The media and the blue checkmarks on social media are agreeing with neocons like Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio. The presence of those remaining neocons means that the Republicans aren't really a peace party either but at least President Trump shows little interest in unnecessary wars. 

What would I do in Afghanistan in Syria? The same thing Trump is doing. Pulling out. I would still launch airstrikes against ISIS, but at some point we have to end the wars in the Middle East and Asia. We have already lost enough lives in our campaign against terrorism and have largely won the war against ISIS and al-Qaeda. Staying to fight the Taliban, the Syrian regime, Russia and Iran is not in America's best intrests.