The United States has been at war in Afghanistan for so long now that it has drawn in a new generation of American soldiers, for whom the proximate causes of the war are historical events they learned about in school.
The American war far exceeds the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in both duration and cost.
As divided as we are right now, Americans across the political spectrum should at least be able to agree that it is long past time either to declare the war a failure-lost, in fact-or admit that it is not really a war anymore but a permanent military operation, a never-ending police action that will require a continuous supply of troops and funding to what is now quite obviously a strategic periphery.
In his farewell address to his troops, he said, "It is time for this war in Afghanistan to end."
Note what Nicholson did not say: he did not say, "It is time for us to end this war in Afghanistan by winning it." He did not say that, because no one believes it is possible to win the war in Afghanistan.
If today the war in Afghanistan is not a war but a never-ending police action, it did not start out that way-and if it had, it most certainly would never have enjoyed the overwhelming popular support that it did at first.
We initially went to war in Afghanistan with a sense of purpose: find those responsible for 9/11, avenge the deaths of our countrymen, and punish those who harbored them.
http://thefederalist.com/2018/09/12/americas-forever-war-afghanistan-engulfed-new-generation/
The American war far exceeds the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in both duration and cost.
As divided as we are right now, Americans across the political spectrum should at least be able to agree that it is long past time either to declare the war a failure-lost, in fact-or admit that it is not really a war anymore but a permanent military operation, a never-ending police action that will require a continuous supply of troops and funding to what is now quite obviously a strategic periphery.
In his farewell address to his troops, he said, "It is time for this war in Afghanistan to end."
Note what Nicholson did not say: he did not say, "It is time for us to end this war in Afghanistan by winning it." He did not say that, because no one believes it is possible to win the war in Afghanistan.
If today the war in Afghanistan is not a war but a never-ending police action, it did not start out that way-and if it had, it most certainly would never have enjoyed the overwhelming popular support that it did at first.
We initially went to war in Afghanistan with a sense of purpose: find those responsible for 9/11, avenge the deaths of our countrymen, and punish those who harbored them.
http://thefederalist.com/2018/09/12/americas-forever-war-afghanistan-engulfed-new-generation/
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