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Trump Orders Big Troop Reduction in Afghanistan (Total pullout in months)
The Wall Street Journal ^ | December 20, 2018 | Gordon Lubold and Jessica Donati

Posted on 12/20/2018 5:10:07 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

About half of the 14,000 U.S. forces will return home in the coming weeks, the start of a total pullout that could take at least many months

A day after a contested decision to pull American military forces from Syria, officials said Thursday that President Trump has ordered the start of a reduction of American forces in Afghanistan.

More than 7,000 American troops will begin to return home from Afghanistan in the coming weeks, a U.S. official said. The move will come as the first stage of a phased drawdown and the start of a conclusion to the 17-year war that officials say could take at least many months....

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; oef; trump; trumpgwot
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Leave it for the s-hole it has always been, it is unfixable and we are done with nation-building. If ISIS acts up, smash them like bugs.


21 posted on 12/20/2018 5:23:05 PM PST by bigbob (Trust Trump. Trust the Plan.)
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To: Mr Rogers

Friend who served as an officer told me we cannot win there and cannot stop their opium trade, except with tactics we are not going to employ, such as telling key players we will kill their entire family if they betray us.

He also mentioned the level of lack of education. In training them to be part of a modern military, most of them had never seen a fork before. It was that basic.

Then there was the “boy night” every week. He learned not to smile at the children otherwise they would be brought to his room by an elder for sex that night.


22 posted on 12/20/2018 5:23:31 PM PST by Williams (Stop Tolerating The Intolerant.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Our continual involvement in the occupation of that $***hole was the apogee of the Bush nation building stupidity.

Our goal there should have been to destroy the Talib an and pull out.

The reason we remained, I BELIEVE, is because of globalist interests in rare minerals there.

Syris is a different story entirely. I believe Trump is making a mistake there.


23 posted on 12/20/2018 5:24:04 PM PST by ZULU (Jeff Sessions should be tried for sedition.)
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To: rktman

If they can show a strategy other than the last 17 years failed ones I’m open to staying, otherwise let them live like 7th century hermits. Bring the boys home.


24 posted on 12/20/2018 5:25:32 PM PST by sarge83
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To: Windflier

Long term stays in Syria and Afghanistan are probably a bridge too far.


25 posted on 12/20/2018 5:25:54 PM PST by Williams (Stop Tolerating The Intolerant.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Good!
Bring them home!


26 posted on 12/20/2018 5:26:46 PM PST by TheConservativeParty
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To: McGavin999

Once you announce you are leaving they leave you alone. They’re crazy but no one wants to kill Yankees that are packing up to leave.


27 posted on 12/20/2018 5:27:10 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Brother, your first reply to me wasn’t responsive to my initial post, so I’m confused. I said nothing about the veracity of the WSJ.


28 posted on 12/20/2018 5:27:26 PM PST by Windflier (Pitchforks and torches ripen on the vine. Left too long, they become black rifles.)
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To: Williams

That’s horrible.


29 posted on 12/20/2018 5:28:48 PM PST by laplata (The Left/Progressives have diseased minds.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I heard the other day that the ONLY reason we stay there is to keep groups like Taliban and al-Queda away, out of the country.


30 posted on 12/20/2018 5:29:21 PM PST by Karoo
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

We could be in Afghanistan fighting for 100 years and not defeat/pacify them. They live to fight.


31 posted on 12/20/2018 5:30:01 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Twitter is Trump's laser pointer and the media are all cats.)
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To: sarge83

Except that the Taliban shielded Bin Laden, I’m not sure Afghanistan had much strategic importance. We pretty much made it a quagmire for the Russians. We rely on Pakistan for supply there and they aren’t really on our side.


32 posted on 12/20/2018 5:30:05 PM PST by Williams (Stop Tolerating The Intolerant.)
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To: sarge83

Yeah, I was over it a while ago. Either do what needs done or GTFO! Didn’t we do this back in the 60’s and 70’s? Uh, yup !


33 posted on 12/20/2018 5:31:44 PM PST by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Whats next, are we going to stop the opium production and trade??


34 posted on 12/20/2018 5:32:09 PM PST by eyeamok
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To: ZULU
Syris is a different story entirely. I believe Trump is making a mistake there.

I believe that the Kurds should ally with Assad and fight the Turks.

35 posted on 12/20/2018 5:32:44 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Islam, like communism, cannot be defeated without going full all out war against any such nations supporting our enemy.

We have three choices:

1. Go for full victory by taking the battle to any nation that supports islamic terrorism.

2. Continue fighting a defensive war in Afghanistan for forever.

3. Get out and let nature take it’s course, which means the Taliban and related forces will eventually take full control. (Something very similar happened in 1975.)

Thank Bush and his globalist buddies for this endless nightmare.


36 posted on 12/20/2018 5:32:47 PM PST by redfreedom (.)
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To: laplata

Totally true they have sex with little boys every week. I asked him how they justify that. He said if you ask them, they all say “we don’t do that”. Imagine the effect on an uneducated warlike male population that grew up being sodomized.


37 posted on 12/20/2018 5:33:14 PM PST by Williams (Stop Tolerating The Intolerant.)
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To: Williams
Long term stays in Syria and Afghanistan are probably a bridge too far.

That's true. Unlike Germany, Japan, and South Korea, those countries will never be our allies, nor do we have a sufficient national interest in those areas to maintain a multi decadal presence there.

38 posted on 12/20/2018 5:34:35 PM PST by Windflier (Pitchforks and torches ripen on the vine. Left too long, they become black rifles.)
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To: TonyM

Agreed


39 posted on 12/20/2018 5:34:41 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

How are we going to secure the Rare Earth Minerals If our military is not there to “protect” the people?

//sarc


40 posted on 12/20/2018 5:35:59 PM PST by Vermont Lt
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