Two lines summarizing American foreign policy — an Afghani speaks

© 2017 Peter Free

 

23 August 2017

 

 

President Trump's new Afghanistan plan — flips him against his campaign promise

 

From CNN:

 

 

The President is giving the Pentagon authority to ramp up troop levels in Afghanistan by several thousand, but Trump declared the US military would not talk specifically about troop levels there.

 

"We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities," Trump said.

 

"Conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables, will guide our strategy from now on. America's enemies must never know our plans or believe they can wait us out."

 

"These killers need to know they have nowhere to hide, that no place is beyond the reach of American might and American arms," Trump said. "Retribution will be fast and powerful."

 

The end-goal of Trump's plan in Afghanistan was to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table to find a political solution to the Afghan war.

 

The goal was the same as that of President Barack Obama, but Trump argued his plan has a key difference from that of his predecessor: no timelines on the withdrawal of US troops.

 

© 2017 Jeremy Herb, Five key pieces of Trump's Afghanistan plan, CNN (22 August 2017)

 

 

The President explained his changed thinking this way

 

He said:

 

 

"My original instinct was to pull out -- and, historically, I like following my instincts," Trump said.

 

"But all my life I've heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office. In other words, when you're President of the United States."

 

A withdrawal, Trump said, would dishonor the US troops who died in Afghanistan and could create a vacuum that would allow terrorist networks to expand, as they did after the full withdrawal of US troops in Iraq.

 

"I will not say when we are going to attack, but attack we will," Trump said.

 

© 2017 Jeremy Diamond, Trump declares US will 'win' in Afghanistan, but gives few details, CNN (22 August 2017) (excerpts)

 

 

Not content with committing to yet more — of the previous 16 years of failed sameness in Afghanistan . . .

 

The President incorporated the customary dose of American chest-thumping:

 

 

Trump warned that he was not offering a blank check of US support to Afghanistan, insisting that the country will have to continue to show a serious commitment and strides toward addressing persistent issues like corruption.

 

"Our patience is not unlimited. We will keep our eyes wide open," Trump declared.

 

© 2017 Jeremy Diamond, Trump declares US will 'win' in Afghanistan, but gives few details, CNN (22 August 2017)

 

 

So when Afghanistan does what it always does . . .

 

. . . in the way of exhibiting dollar-fed chaos and muscular corruption:

 

 

we're going to make even more war on them,

 

or

 

we're going to withdraw, which is what most Afghans want?

 

 

Vacuously unenforceable threats come from geopolitically inept people

 

President Vladimir Putin — I bet — got a grin out of that one on our Commander in Chief's part.

 

 

President Trump's reasoning probably sounds persuasive to many folks

 

Certainly so, to:

 

 

(a) the not too smart,

 

(b) those who do not understand culture or history,

 

and

 

(c) those who simply cannot admit that American war profiteering in Muslim country is the primary motivator for Islamic terrorism.

 

 

Proving our dope-ish-ness (in this instance) need not go far

 

If you venture to the first CNN article, you will eventually see a video of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson explaining that the President's new policy is based on our "success" (in Iraq) against ISIS.

 

Given that one of the announced reasons for upping our presence in Afghanistan is to prevent terror against Americans, one has to wonder how these American leaders explain the fact that supposedly collapsing ISIS is still capable of sponsoring this last week's two deadly attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils.

 

That fact, by itself, sucks the logic out of the American justification for continuing to belabor Afghanistan.

 

Idiotic (with regard to the President's allegedly new and improved policy) is not too strong a word.

 

 

An Afghani concisely summarized the effects of American foreign policy

 

From Britain's Telegraph — speaking to a man in Kabul:

 

 

Wherever the US has laid its feet, there is hypocrisy and discord.

 

And wherever the US has laid its feet, Muslims are dying.

 

© 2017 Ali Latifi and Keely Lockhart, 'Wherever the US has laid its feet, Muslims are dying', The Telegraph (23 August 2017) (embedded video at 0:40)

 

 

The moral? — profit-motivated death-dealing ends well only for Military Industrial Complex plutocrats

 

President Trump has announced himself to be one of them.

 

The last good reason to have voted for this particular Commander in Chief has evaporated:

 

 

Trump has abandoned what once ostensibly formed the foundation of his presidency — a commitment to “America first.”

 

Whoever or whatever benefits by prolonging the war in Afghanistan, it certainly won’t be the United States.

 

© 2017 Andrew J. Bacevich, The conflict in Afghanistan is Trump's war now, Los Angeles Times (22 August 2017)

 

 

That's why Putin is grinning. Xi Jinping, also, I imagine.

 

Power and its illusion make us witless.