A typically American foreign policy non sequitur in Afghanistan

26 October 2016

Foolish expectations?

Reuters reported that US air strikes in Afghanistan went from about 500 last year to 700 (or so) this. The Obama Administration's plan to exit the mess that we created there is not going well:

"Washington's military planners originally expected Afghan troops to be able to hold their own more than a decade after the United States' initial invasion," the private intelligence firm Stratfor concluded in a recent report.

"But with instability still plaguing Afghanistan's north, south and east, they are as dependent on foreign air power and aid as they were when Operation Enduring Freedom began."

Huh?

Why would anyone expect Afghanis to accomplish what Americans themselves could not?

We depended on air power at every turn during our (still "enduring") war in Afghanistan.

Why would Afghan troops — trained by Americans accustomed to the use of air power — magically transform themselves into forces that needed none?

The moral? — It is impossible to strategize effectively, when one cannot forecast even the exceedingly obvious

A powerful military in stupid hands loses much of its effectiveness. A chunk fewer guns and a bunch more brain would have avoided some of our strategic disasters, including this one in Afghanistan.

One does get exasperated with the generally low quality of top American leadership.

PeteFree.com

A typically American foreign policy non sequitur in Afghanistan