Trumps Afghanastan Plan

[Dill]

(08-21-2017, 11:56 PM)GMDino Wrote: I missed the speech and it's late so I'll look for more tomorrow.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-afghanistan-idUSKCN1B109Q?il=0

I watched it. It was a bit like watching a ping pong match with the back and forth between policy positions.

It clear that Trump, after years saying we should get out now, has reversed that position. But beyond that it is not clear how his policy will differ in practice from Bush's. 

Trump said "No more nation building." But so did Bush, and that appears to be why Afghanistan spun out of control.

But Trump was still talking about building the police force and Army there, and stabilizing the government. That's a little nation building at least to his right wing base.

He was more vocal about Pakistan, claiming no one had called Pakistan on its support for the Taliban. Something will happen if they don't shape up.

After telling us what his moves would be, he reminded us that he would not telegraph his moves. So there will be no drawdown timeline. Help for the Afghan government will be conditional.  Good news for the Taliban at many points.

I am thinking the anti-globalists and Breitbart and Sinclair and Newsmax aren't going to like this speech though.  The generals have convinced Trump that withdrawing from A-stan will likely turn the place into one huge training camp for Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and ISIS.  But we would be saving money, right? Putting America first.

Outside of the Israel-Palestine conflict, there is no more complicated political territory on the face of the earth than the Afghanistan, Pakistan, India axis.  I think most Trump supporters would agree that we need a non-politician to come in and sort out this mess, someone with fresh eyes, good "instincts," and no knowledge of government and South Asian history.