An uptick in high-profile attacks in Kabul over the past week, including an attacker killing more than 100 people on Saturday by detonating an ambulance filled with explosives, underscores America's failure to quell the unrest in the country. One reason the United States hasn’t been able to “win” in Afghanistan? Because it doesn’t know why it’s there, suggests Steve Coll in The New York Times.
“Why is this problem so hard? Why, since the Sept. 11 attacks, has the United States been unable to prevent Pakistan, a notional ally that has received billions of dollars in aid, from succoring the Taliban at such a high cost in American lives and Afghan misery?” Coll writes.
“One major reason is American war aims in Afghanistan have been, and remain, riddled with contradictions and illusions that Inter-Services Intelligence can exploit. President Bush, President Barack Obama and President Trump have all offered convoluted, incomplete or unconvincing answers to essential questions: Why are we in Afghanistan? What interests justify our sacrifices? How will the war end?”
“For years, almost every American general dispatched to command the Afghan war has conceded that the conflict must ultimately end with a political settlement, supported by regional powers, and that there is no purely military solution possible against the Taliban. Nonetheless, the United States continues to prioritize military action over diplomacy. Stalemated civil wars like Afghanistan’s can last a very long time. They end only through negotiations with the enemy.”
US casualties jump in 2017. “The increase in US military action in Afghanistan over the past year has been accompanied by a higher number of casualties, with 141 American service members killed or wounded in the 12-month period through November,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The figures amount to a 35% increase in US military casualties over the previous 12 months, according to US military data provided to Congress. The military said 14 were killed in action and 127 wounded through November.”
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“Why is this problem so hard? Why, since the Sept. 11 attacks, has the United States been unable to prevent Pakistan, a notional ally that has received billions of dollars in aid, from succoring the Taliban at such a high cost in American lives and Afghan misery?” Coll writes.
“One major reason is American war aims in Afghanistan have been, and remain, riddled with contradictions and illusions that Inter-Services Intelligence can exploit. President Bush, President Barack Obama and President Trump have all offered convoluted, incomplete or unconvincing answers to essential questions: Why are we in Afghanistan? What interests justify our sacrifices? How will the war end?”
“For years, almost every American general dispatched to command the Afghan war has conceded that the conflict must ultimately end with a political settlement, supported by regional powers, and that there is no purely military solution possible against the Taliban. Nonetheless, the United States continues to prioritize military action over diplomacy. Stalemated civil wars like Afghanistan’s can last a very long time. They end only through negotiations with the enemy.”
US casualties jump in 2017. “The increase in US military action in Afghanistan over the past year has been accompanied by a higher number of casualties, with 141 American service members killed or wounded in the 12-month period through November,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The figures amount to a 35% increase in US military casualties over the previous 12 months, according to US military data provided to Congress. The military said 14 were killed in action and 127 wounded through November.”
Back to Geopolitics
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