Afghan policy redo.

NEW AFGHANISTAN POLICY, TEMPORARY MEASURE?

WHAT WILL LONG TERM PLAN LOOK LIKE?

 

 

 

President Trump announced his administrations new Afghanistan plan in a speech on Monday night. It includes the addition of 4000 more troops, the relaxing of rules of engagement that will now be determined by officers on the ground. There also will be an attempt to pressure Pakistan, who has been playing both sides for years, to stop its support for the Taliban. This plan cannot be a plan to win the war in Afghanistan where we have been fighting for 16 years. It appears to be stop gate measure to prevent the Taliban from expanding its control of the country.

 

While many would like to see an end to our involvement in the middle east, myself included, this is not a time to depart. The war on ISIS in Iraq and Syria is going well and the U.S. involvement is limited. It seems that the plan in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan is to eliminate ISIS fighters. While many will survive, they may be disorganized and decimated to the point that they will be able to be controlled by the powers that be. By keeping control of Afghanistan, it will eliminate a refuge for ISIS fighters as they are expelled from Iraq and Syria.

 

What is our long range plan for this area? I assume it is not a defined plan as yet. How long are we expected to stay in the middle east? We have troops stationed in over 100 countries around the world. Our troops in Germany are in a peaceful environment. We have troops in South Korea since the 1950's. who could be the first line in a new Korea conflict. The time must come to re-examine our presence around the world. It may be time for many of these countries either to pay up or begin to provide their own defense.  Should our sons and daughters be the policemen of the world? These are things that must be determined in the not too distant future if we are to survive economically.

 

I doubt that our continued presence in the middle east will ever be a peaceful affair. It is not like Germany of even Korea where we are on a border with a potential enemy, but where we are living in the midst of the enemy. As long as we are occupying middle east Muslim countries we will be the target for terrorism there and at home. The long term conflict of the future in the middle east will be the war between Sunni Saudi Arabia and their allies and Shia Iran and their allies. We only have 3 real allies in the Middle east Israel, Egypt and Jordon. The rest of them are friends of convenience and have been playing both sides for years. Sometime we should support our true allies in the area and let the others determine their future for themselves either by war or peaceful negotiations. Our best plan would be to support neither side and not do any business with countries that do. This would occupy all the parties of the middle east and leave the rest of the world free of their conflicts with each other.