Posted on 10/14/2015 9:34:43 AM PDT by nickcarraway
With pressure building on the White House to slow or completely halt the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, senior officials said that President Obama appears increasingly willing to keep a force there large enough to carry on the hunt for Al Qaeda and Islamic State militants.
For President Obama, leaving more than a small force to protect the embassy in Kabul beyond next year would mean abandoning his goal to bring home almost all American troops before leaving office. But even though Mr. Obama has declared the American war in Afghanistan to be over, the Taliban’s recent advances have convinced the Pentagon, many in Congress and much of the national security establishment in Washington that it is critical for American troops to remain there.
The insurgents are now spread through more of Afghanistan than at any point since 2001, according to the United Nations, and last month they seized the city of Kunduz with only a few hundred fighters. At the same time, Al Qaeda operatives are still finding havens in the mountains of Afghanistan, and the Islamic State has gained a toehold by recruiting disaffected Taliban, opening a treacherous new chapter in the war.
Those developments have led the White House to become increasingly convinced of the need to keep some kind of counterterrorism force in Afghanistan. Just how large a force — and whether American troops should also continue training Afghan forces — remains a subject of debate inside and outside the administration, said the officials, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss decision making within the administration.
But at the very least, those pushing for an expanded mission after 2017 would like to see the United States and its NATO allies maintain at least two or three bases from which drones could be
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
He failed in Egypt. He failed in Libya. He is failing in Syria. He has failed in Iraq by pulling out the troops to soon. He is currently failing in Afghanistan. What we have is a President with a “mushy” brain according to Putin.
Obama realizes it is useful to leave American warriors there so he can punish them when they intervene to stop child rape.
“...What we have is a President with a “mushy” brain according to Putin....”
Well, is he really failing? As far as his long-time agenda of screwing up the United States as much as possible....thanks to a dysfunctional, complicit Congress, he is still at it and doing well...
I think I read someplace that there is some Shanghai alliance that Russia belongs to that will be setting up a military presence on the Afghan border? If so, that would be a good reason for obama to keep troops there, to be a thorn in Putin’s side and disrupt their operations, even if it means supporting the bad guys.
bbb.....bbbbbu.....bbb......bbbbut his professors at Occidental and Columbia told him that if you’d just pull all the American troops out, universal peace would break out instantaneously.
I bet he stayed up until 2;59AM, Thinking about it!
I wish his father would have thought about pulling out.
Can kicking
No one wants more Americans to die in a Muslim hell-hole
But also no one wants to give up ground that was bought with the lives of American soldiers.
When Americans enter places like Afghanistan, we should do so with the knowledge that we will have to stay 100 years - and we have to make our presence PAY.
This is the lie that Bush gave us. That democracy is some kind of machine you can just install anywhere, which then pumps out “freedom” to primitive sand-people. And with regards to paying for it - in Iraq, we should have simply seized their oil, and used it to run OUR government there.
Not prepared to do that? Then don’t invade.
“Mr. Obama has declared the American war in Afghanistan to be over,”
Really? Doesn’t seem that way!
A frustrated Afghanistan could not be reached for comment.
[With regards to SNL ‘75.]
He unwon Iraq. Maybe he actually learned something during that abject failure.
There's a shocker: When only one side stops fighting, the war goes well for the other side.
Obama lies, no one is surprised.
Every thing we tried to warn about in regard to Obama has occured, short of civil war.
Either get in there in numbers and RETAKE all the territory we gave away or get out.
Since Zer0 has no intention of actually winning...Get out, every single soldier.
On second thought, just GET OUT.
Obama Is Rethinking Pullout in Afghanistan = Let the clock run out until next President shows up
“With pressure building on the White House to slow or completely halt the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, senior officials said that President Obama appears increasingly willing to keep a force there large enough to carry on the hunt for Al Qaeda and Islamic State militants.”
Bulls$it. Obama is keeping American forces there to protect Al Queada and ISIS from Iranian and Russian aggression.
American forces have become the tripwire in the Sunni/Shiite Caliphate war.
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