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.
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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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