Image: A U.S. Marine with a Marine special operations team assists with security during a construction project for an Afghan Local Police (ALP) checkpoint in Helmand province, Afghanistan, March 30, 2013. Flickr / U.S. Department of Defense
Daniel DePetris, RCD: Things Are No Better in Afghanistan
On November 28, 2017, U.S. Commander Gen. John Nicholson delivered a remarkable briefing to the Pentagon press corps on the Trump administration’s new Afghanistan policy. The general was so upbeat about the progress that he witnessed on the battlefield that you could be forgiven for thinking the U.S. was just a few months away from celebrating complete and total victory. Nicholson beamed with confidence that the new war plan was a “game-changer” and a turning point against the Taliban. The “momentum is now with Afghan security forces,” he declared, and with just a little more time, the Taliban will soon realize that their only option is reconciliation with the Afghan government.
Apparently, the Defense Department’s Inspector General does not share the commander’s booming optimism.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: I do not disagree with the above assessment. The Afghan war is now at a stalemate .... but the casualties continue to pile up.
Update: Another bleak assessment .... America Will Never Win the War in Afghanistan (Ali Wyne, National Interest).
