Brian4Liberty
02-18-2016, 02:36 PM
President Obama’s pet war in Afghanistan has become an unending quagmire (http://rare.us/story/president-obamas-pet-war-in-afghanistan-has-become-an-unending-quagmire/)
By Bonnie Kristian | February 17, 2016
When President Obama swept into office in a blaze of hopeful promises, there was one area of policy where it was immediately clear he only intended more of the same: the war in Afghanistan.
In contrast with his vaunted rejection of the Iraq war, Obama made Afghanistan his own personal project from the get-go, declaring Iraq a “distraction” from the dubiously attainable goal of eliminating terrorism in the graveyard of empires.
...
In retrospect, his pre-presidency plans for accomplishing that win were fairly vague. Mostly he had ideas for throwing more American troops at the problem, forcing him to make what was (for him) the somewhat surprising argument that his predecessor’s mistake in Afghanistan had been excessive caution.
Overall, one thing was clear: Obama believed the situation in Afghanistan needed “urgent” attention, and he intended to give it.
And indeed he did. By Politifact’s tally, Obama fulfilled (or partially fulfilled) all his major 2008 pledges about Afghanistan but one: ending the war in 2014. Despite all the escalation, all the expanded regional focus, all the drones and dollars, the war that “has to be won” is no closer to completion than when Obama took office.
If anything, a plausible end date looks even more remote. Obama’s parting gift to America seems to be an never-ending subscription to his favorite war.
After five broken promises of withdrawal, there are presently nearly 10,000 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan—plus three times as many contractors, a source of labor the president conveniently doesn’t have to mention in the troop counts he shares with the public. For each and every one of those soldiers, taxpayers drop almost $4 million per year, no small expense for a country $19 trillion in debt.
Now, with the Taliban resurgent and ISIS moving in, the Obama administration has begun to speak of Afghanistan as a “generational thing,” an “enduring commitment” like the long-term American presence in South Korea and Japan—but a lot bigger, and with active fighting. While once Obama diagnosed the problem in Afghanistan as too few American troops and too passive a strategy, now it seems he’s decided to institutionalize exactly that sort of low-key (yet incredibly expensive) occupation—forever.
...
More: http://rare.us/story/president-obamas-pet-war-in-afghanistan-has-become-an-unending-quagmire/
By Bonnie Kristian | February 17, 2016
When President Obama swept into office in a blaze of hopeful promises, there was one area of policy where it was immediately clear he only intended more of the same: the war in Afghanistan.
In contrast with his vaunted rejection of the Iraq war, Obama made Afghanistan his own personal project from the get-go, declaring Iraq a “distraction” from the dubiously attainable goal of eliminating terrorism in the graveyard of empires.
...
In retrospect, his pre-presidency plans for accomplishing that win were fairly vague. Mostly he had ideas for throwing more American troops at the problem, forcing him to make what was (for him) the somewhat surprising argument that his predecessor’s mistake in Afghanistan had been excessive caution.
Overall, one thing was clear: Obama believed the situation in Afghanistan needed “urgent” attention, and he intended to give it.
And indeed he did. By Politifact’s tally, Obama fulfilled (or partially fulfilled) all his major 2008 pledges about Afghanistan but one: ending the war in 2014. Despite all the escalation, all the expanded regional focus, all the drones and dollars, the war that “has to be won” is no closer to completion than when Obama took office.
If anything, a plausible end date looks even more remote. Obama’s parting gift to America seems to be an never-ending subscription to his favorite war.
After five broken promises of withdrawal, there are presently nearly 10,000 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan—plus three times as many contractors, a source of labor the president conveniently doesn’t have to mention in the troop counts he shares with the public. For each and every one of those soldiers, taxpayers drop almost $4 million per year, no small expense for a country $19 trillion in debt.
Now, with the Taliban resurgent and ISIS moving in, the Obama administration has begun to speak of Afghanistan as a “generational thing,” an “enduring commitment” like the long-term American presence in South Korea and Japan—but a lot bigger, and with active fighting. While once Obama diagnosed the problem in Afghanistan as too few American troops and too passive a strategy, now it seems he’s decided to institutionalize exactly that sort of low-key (yet incredibly expensive) occupation—forever.
...
More: http://rare.us/story/president-obamas-pet-war-in-afghanistan-has-become-an-unending-quagmire/