President Trump Orders the Withdrawal of 7,000 Troops from Afghanistan

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Now we know why Secretary Mattis resigned Thursday. He doesn’t want to oversee a drawdown from Afghanistan. In his resignation letter, James Mattis cited differences with the President. Mattis referenced several conflicts with Trump in his resignation letter, including Trump’s lack of support for American alliances in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

At the time of the release of the letter, Americans knew that the 2,000 soldiers in Syria were being recalled. Since then, we’ve been told, 7,000 troops are to come home from Afghanistan, according to the Military Times.

The 2,000 leaving Syria will be stationed only six hours away. It’s not a catastrophe.

Afghanistan is a different situation. There are 14,000 troops in Afghanistan and losing half is significant. It appears to be the first step in ending the 17-year war.

The President doesn’t like long costly entanglements overseas with lost lives.

The Wall Street Journal first reported details of the Trump administration’s request for an Afghanistan withdrawal Thursday night.

No timelines have been set.

The 2,000 soldiers in Syria assist local forces. The 14,000 in Afghanistan are split between counterterrorism operations against the Taliban and ISIS Afghan, ISIS in Iraq and Syria [Khorasan], and training local forces alongside their NATO counterparts.

This comes as NATO military advisers and American airpower are backing Afghan-led offensives to push back the Taliban and insurgents.

The White House is considering holding talks with the terrorist Taliban.

AFGHANISTAN CAN’T STAND

Last month, in his nomination hearing — to take over U.S. Central Command — Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr., the nominee to lead CENTCOM, said terrorist groups in the country still represented a credible threat to the American homeland. He added that despite years of training from coalition troops, local security forces still did not have the ability to defend the Afghan government without assistance.

“They’re not there yet,” he said. “If we left precipitously right now, they would not be able to successfully defend their country.”

Some fear we are ceding the region to Russia, Iran, and the terrorists. On the other hand, how long are we going to stay there and watch our soldiers come home in body bags after being killed by the very people they are training? The President doesn’t think the people in the region want us there or appreciate our efforts.

The President ran on getting us out of these wars and he does his best to fulfill his campaign promises.

The real mystery is why the Democrats are upset. The Pelosi-Schumer team is “shaken” by Secretary Mattis and the change in war plans. Why? They call the wars in the Middle East illegal. They’re the interventionists now? It’s so confusing.


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V.Lombardi
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V.Lombardi
5 years ago

Mattis is worried about his military establishment club over our nation. How dishonorable to base his support of our nation’s defenses on supporting a hostile and little nation half way around the Earth.

Greg
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Greg
5 years ago

Someone has made an astute observation. We haven’t won a war ever since there’s been a Secretary of Defense. What does that tell us.

Bj Hopkins
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Bj Hopkins
5 years ago
Reply to  Greg

Pelosi and Schumer are political opportunist hacks who have no true position other than protecting their power. Term limits for these senile old fools.

V.Lombardi
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V.Lombardi
5 years ago
Reply to  Greg

Yes and the Energy Department resulted in a huge dependency on foreign sources, as hundreds of billions left the US.

Also the Education Department resulted in a collapse of test scores.

Greg
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Greg
5 years ago

My goodness, what the Hell is wrong with people. You have people all over the spectrum calling for a coup. And there were questions about Flynn being charged with treason!! If Congress is so Damned concerned then pass a Declaration of War, and reinstate the draft. How many of these same imbecilic, sophomoric blowhards were crying about the AUMF not being applicable to the new conflicts. Of course Congress has been abdicating their responsibilities for quite a long time. They don’t want to get their hands dirty, It certainly is no surprise that Graham, the war-monger, is wholeheartedly against any draw down or pull-out. I suspect we’d be better off pulling back and investing in training and equipment for more rapid deployment forces.

What baffles me is why the press is such a war-mongering institution. I suppose it mostly has to do with good TV and pictures from the conflict. But then why aren’t we seeing wide coverage of Syria and Afghanistan theaters. Or maybe it so when good men die they can produce tear-jerker stories. They are big profiteers in the coverage of wars. CNN probably made a fortune in the Iraq war, so much so they were complicit in a murder. Who remembers That.

Greg
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Greg
5 years ago

“including Trump’s lack of support for American alliances in the Middle East and Afghanistan.”

You mean the alliances which are hostile to Israel and were fully behind Iran. The terrain alone makes Afghanistan a near impossible task, apart from using a tactical nuclear weapon. How would these alliances react to That. We’ve learned in all these theaters that the locals are simply incompetent and not up to the task. They do not have the “fighting spirit” which is what is needed. That spirit comes from a loyalty that exceeds any fear.

I suspect many of our problems in these countries resulted from promoting and exporting our form of democracy. These nations haven’t a history that can nurture this type of society. When Bush decided to abruptly organize and establish a western system into lands that never aspired to it, he made the colossal mistake of a lifetime. Our men and women are the “beneficiaries” of that mistake. Even a schmuck like me could see the end result. It was bin Laden himself who clued us in. If one listened to the Iraqi’s about our involvement they were appreciative but soon became irritated at our interference. We stayed and stayed on.

So why should we have our men spending up to a dozen deployments for a never-ending war. It’s not only the loss of life but the permanent disabilities from minor to quadriplegic. I recall watching C-Span at Walter Reed with those returning from the Iraq war. It has been said the military will try to avoid wars but this new breed seems hell bent on continuous wars. But these days there’s a lot of money in the war machine. Nowadays those who leave can gain lucrative jobs in the military industrial complex. It’s not like we can’t re-enter the theater of operations in the future. If we can decimate ISIS in such order we can do so again if the need arises.

Albert Moore
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Albert Moore
5 years ago

Give ’em tons ‘o small arms, especially shotguns, and let ’em defend themselves.