The war in Afghanistan has become so protracted that it warrants the epithet the “Groundhog Day War.”
Fighting has gone on for nearly 17 years, with U.S. troops in Afghanistan seven years longer than the Soviets were.
The U.S. leadership claims to have a strategy for victory even as warm weather brings in yet another “fighting season” and new rounds of deadly violence in Kabul.
Sixteen years and seven months of violence, loss, sacrifice and significant investment, without victory, is alarming – but is it without hope?
As a scholar of Afghanistan and strategy and a soldier who has served four tours in the country, I’d like to explore both the apparent stalemate and the reasons for harboring hope of an eventual resolution.
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WNU Editor: The above author zeros in on the Taliban safe havens in Pakistan .... and he does have a point. Elimination of these safe havens will make it more difficult for the Taliban to wage war .... but unfortunately that will not be enough .... the war will still continue. There are many reasons and factors on why Afghan has been at in a state of war for decades. Tribalism/sectarianism/and foreign interference to just name a few. But all wars do come to an end .... and the conflict in Afghanistan will end one day. But I suspect that the date when that will happen will be far in the future. To put it bluntly .... I can easily see this conflict going on for the next 20 years .... if not longer. And it will only end when countries like Pakistan are held accountable for the mayhem that they are causing in Afghanistan, and when the Afghan people themselves say enough is enough.
