Posted on Jan 30, 2016
Obama Forced Again to Rethink Trooop Numbers in Afghanistan
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Fifteen years into the war that few Americans talk about any more, conditions in Afghanistan are getting worse, preventing the clean ending that President Barack Obama hoped to achieve before leaving office. Violence is on the rise, the Taliban are staging new offensives, the
Islamic State
group is angling for a foothold and peace prospects are dim.
Afghanistan remains a danger zone. It's hobbled by a weak economy that's sapping public confidence in the new government. Afghan police and soldiers are struggling to hold together the country 13 months after the US-led military coalition culled its numbers by 90 percent.
The bottom line: For a second time, Obama is rethinking his plan to drop US troop levels from 9,800 to 5,500 before he leaves office in January 2017.
"I don't see any drawdowns" in the near future, said James Dobbins, Obama's former special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He predicted Obama would leave the decision to the next president.
Islamic State
group is angling for a foothold and peace prospects are dim.
Afghanistan remains a danger zone. It's hobbled by a weak economy that's sapping public confidence in the new government. Afghan police and soldiers are struggling to hold together the country 13 months after the US-led military coalition culled its numbers by 90 percent.
The bottom line: For a second time, Obama is rethinking his plan to drop US troop levels from 9,800 to 5,500 before he leaves office in January 2017.
"I don't see any drawdowns" in the near future, said James Dobbins, Obama's former special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He predicted Obama would leave the decision to the next president.
Obama Forced Again to Rethink Trooop Numbers in Afghanistan
Posted from military.com
Afghanistan
Coalition Forces
Barack Obama
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 7
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I concur with CPT Jack Durish' s response. COL Mikel J. Burroughs I doubt that POTUS Obama has seriously put much thought into what is needed to stabilize Afghanistan he seems to have focused primarily on exiting as quickly as he can. I know he would love top have all "troops" out of Afghanistan before he leaves office no matter what teh situation is on the ground.
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The Taliban have been holding the same cards for years now. They attack to remain relevant and maintain control of key logistical hubs, and then they wait in Pakistan. They've known this whole time we are leaving and the real war for control of Afghanistan is just starting. I've brought this up on RP in different threads, but the U.S. has yet to develop a real strategy post 9-11. We are the number one target for all the terrorist organizations, now what are we going to do about it. Perpetual asymmetric conflicts, defensive position that relies heavily on intelligence gathering and surveillance, a mixture...IDK. Right now we try to deal with each situation as an isolated event rather than dealing with it as part of a long term coherent strategy.
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CPT Jack Durish
It really is deja vu all over again, isn't it? Following the Vietnam War, the Communist leaders were not shy about shoving our faces in the dirt. They openly admitted that they were beaten, soundly beaten, militarily, but only had to wait for "popular" opinion in the US to win the war for them. They were correct, weren't they? Thus, they established the exemplar for all other enemies of America. Just wait us out. We the People simply don't have the persistence for victory.
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We definitely need to finish what we started. I'd be for going back as long as we can have the support we need to do our jobs.
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