Dan who comments here as others have done found the idea that Trump has attempted to take us out of our “forever wars” a point in his favor. I was reminded when I responded to him of the United States position prior to WWII when America also wanted to stay out of war. We were safe within our own borders and why did we care what happened in the rest of the world. The result of that thinking has been reflected in the thinking of Trump.
He tells us how much he loves the military, how much money he has spent on renewing it pretending that somehow it was falling apart, and how we have the best fighting forces in the world. But at the same time he is afraid of utilizing it. He would rather run than fight. Perhaps his attitude is based upon his ignorance and his lack of historical knowledge. Not know for his intellect or his interest in reading, which according to reports he won’t even read his daily presidential briefings, he probably fails to understand that Americans are not safe within their own borders unless they have allies and live in a safe world.
Assume that Trump has kept us out of wars, what is the cost of doing that? We saw the cost in Northern Syria when our alliance with the Kurds was fractured when at the demand of Turkey’s Erdogan we withdrew our thousand or so troops so that the Russians and Syrians could take over the areas we once protected leaving our allies the Kurds to twist in the wind. Our troops were not in danger nor did anyone seriously threaten them but Trump withdrew them giving Turkey, Russia, and Assad land previously protected by us. Is that what you want America to stand for? Is that what the greatest fighting force in the world should do because a tin pot dictator like Erdogan waves his fist at us?
What about the “endless war” in Afghanistan? Trump wants to deal with the Taliban and had the audacity to invite its leaders to Camp David. Is he that ignorant that he fails to understand that some people are incapable of making peace? He probably has no idea of the history of the Taliban when it ruled Afghanistan. Women were confined to their homes for most of the time, they were prohibited from being educated, if they left they had to cover themselves completely, they had bearded purity police who beat them if any part of their skin was visible, and they prohibited them from playing music.
As shown in this 1999 article where a woman was executed in a sports stadium they are a gang beyond brutal. The article notes: “The Taliban have imposed their harsh brand of Islamic law in the 90 percent of Afghanistan under their control. The Taliban say their version of Islam is a pure one that follows a literal interpretation of the Muslim holy book, The Koran. Under Taliban laws, murderers are publicly executed by the relatives of their victims. Adulterers are stoned to death and the limbs of thieves are amputated. Lesser crimes are punished by public beatings.”
A more recent video shows a murder of a woman in 2012. The fate of women and men in Afghanistan is dire if the United States leaves. Is it our obligation to stay and attempt to protect these folk from the depredations of the Taliban? Is the making of peace with the Taliban and American forces fleeing from Afghanistan something to be proud of?
All through the world Trump’s foreign policy of cutting and running has put America in greater danger. We have not gone into any new wars but we have not made the world into a safer or more peaceful place. I suggest that Harold Ickles speech in May 1941 where he talked about what ii is that makes an American would make good reading at this time. Here it is.
wa-llahi! Terrorism isn’t Afghanistan’s only export. Afghanistan has a globe girdling heroin distribution system. The only thing that economically supports the country, beside US aid, is the drug business. Europe is awash in Afghani heroin. Ireland, both in the Republic, and, the Six Counties, is suffering an epidemic of opiate addiction. Hands off Afghanistan, OK, but, the US, and, it’s allies, will have to accept the social consequences of increased drug production, and, exportation, by Afghanistan.
But Khalid. We’ll always have Mexico. (And Columbia)
Around the world, heroin use is off the charts.
Afghanistan will always produce most of the heroin in the world. Maybe as much as 90% of the world’s heroin originates there. They will never stop making it because in a huge number of towns it is the only source of income for the residents. The balance that has to be struck there to maintain a civil environment has to include heroin production. Until the rest of the world stops getting stoned on heroin, that is the way Afghanistan will stay. That is our problem.
The treatment of its citizens by Muslim fanatics is their problem. The only way to stop the savage abuse of the population that strays outside of the fundamentalist rule is to appeal to the other countries that have a reformed Islamic system to try and impose their way of thinking there. But as we know, this will never get done. After many millennia humankind has not learned how to live without hate. Just look at the hate in this country. What have we learned about living together from centuries of mistakes? How can we possibly go into the future with confidence that the country will be a better place? We can’t. Humans just can’t live in peace.
Happy to respond. Nothing in or about Afghanistan involves our national interest. It’s a poor, struggling, God-forsaken little country. It’s true we can’t permit Afghanistan to become a staging ground for a terrorist attack on the U.S. But that’s true of many nations around the globe. We can’t, and shouldn’t, place our troops in nations that might harbor terrorists. What’s needed here is vigilance, not a permanent presence. Afghanistan is not worth a single American life. Of course the Taliban are the bad guys. And of course the weak, corrupt government we’ve backed with thousands of American lives and trillions of dollars isn’t ready to stand on its own (and never will be). Time for us to say goodbye. The presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and other Muslim nations is a major rallying cry for the Taliban, ISIS and other Islamic extremist groups. Let’s strip them of this powerful selling point and thereby diminish their appeal. This is a surer path to peace than sending our troops here, there and everywhere.
Oh, and by the way, did I tell you I don’t care who rules Northern Syria? My preference would be the Syrians, but hey, that’s me. We’ve heard this neocon drivel for decades. Remember when we “lost” Libya? There was neocon wailing and gnashing of teeth. Well, Libya is still lost, and so what? I suspect the neocon drum beating is kind of a hangover from the Cold War. Somebody needs to tell them the Cold War is over.
What kills more Americans and rips apart their families? Terrorism or heroin?