Well, tonight is the night. President Trump will officially own the war after his 9PM address to the nation tonight for better or worse. Will he pull us out? Will he create a mercenary army? Will it be a few thousand more troops and status quo? Will it be a drastically different strategy to achieve a decisive victory? No matter what the president decides, it will be our best window yet into whether or not the Deep State has seized full control of the White House.
Here is what we do know going into the address. First, the US has for all intents and purposes at this point strategically lost the war in Afghanistan. Second, the status quo plus more troops will not change anything other than the final cost in bodies and treasure. Third, without a deliberate effort to secure the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and at minimum isolate Taliban sanctuary in Pakistan any strategy will fail before it begins. Fourth, anything less than a concrete plan to decisively win in Afghanistan is an admission the Deep State (i.e. Pentagon) has taken full control of White House policy.
As for me, I would like to see one of two things after clearly outlining what we are doing in Afghanistan and what end state we are trying to achieve. Here is the general outline of what should be desirable. Option A: Cut and seal the Afghanistan-Pakistan border using NATO troops, annihilate Taliban sanctuary in Pakistan, continue to enable the Afghans to mop up the Taliban trapped in Afghanistan, freeze aid to Pakistan until they cut ties with China and turn over Al Qaeda’s remaining leadership, and incorporate Afghanistan’s neighbors to include Iran to put the pieces back together again. Option B: If we will not do A, then we need to immediately pull out of all troops, destroy any remaining military gear and equipment in country we haven’t already given to the Taliban, and cut aid to Pakistan.
Stand-by for analysis after the President’s brief.
By Guiles Hendrik
August 21, 2017
