Trump wants troops in Afghanistan back stateside by Election Day

[left-of-center2012]

Top military officials this week are reportedly set to present President Trump with several options for withdrawing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, including a plan that would bring forces back stateside before the presidential election in November.

The defense leaders also plan to propose and press for a slower draw down, as a sped-up timeline would jeopardize the peace deal the Trump administration signed with the Taliban in February. That deal, which committed the U.S. military to drawing down from roughly 12,000 to 8,600 troops in the country by mid-July, also lays out a full U.S. withdrawal within 14 months after its signing if the Taliban honors its counterterrorism commitments.

Pentagon officials, who have long said any further withdrawal beyond the 8,600 would be “conditions based,” worry that a plan that would pull troops by November would not incentivize the Taliban to reduce attacks, which were high in the first three months of the year.

Trump has long pressed for an end to the Afghanistan War, but the process has been complicated by continued Taliban attacks and the inability to guarantee that the country won’t once again become a hotbed for terrorist activity against the United States once U.S. troops leave.

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/499622-trump-wants-troops-in-afghanistan-back-stateside-by-election-day-report

[spanone]

1. He's pulling out all the stops.

[SoonerPride]

2. I'm sure all the republicans in Congress will scream CUT AND RUN

Right?

Cut and run!

[Blue_true]

12. Good point.

All republicans accused President Obama of literal treason for following up on Bush's withdrawal conditions for Iraq, and for the limited drawdown plan for Afghanistan. Now, Trump wants to withdraw completely and uncontrollably, nothing is being said.

[Maru Kitteh]

3. He needs some replacement voters for the ones he's killed off.

And he needs them in their states.

[Corgigal]

4. Sure,

but he’s killing their parents and grandparents. The vote might surprise him.

Thinking tough guy male only. He’s such a fool.

[riversedge]

5. Trump is so transparent. He wants the military vote. yup. we see thru you Donny boy!

[FarPoint]

6. This also helps spread COVID-19...

Afghanistan also has COVIDS.... just saying.

[sop]

7. One more thing Trump will rush to end, with predictably deadly results.

[former9thward]

10. Rush???

This has been going on for 19 years. No one can "rush" it at this point. It should have been "rushed" more than a decade ago. How long do you want to stay?

[sop]

14. Trump's so-called military objectives are always guided by his personal political interests.

Much like rushing to reopen the economy while COVID-19 deaths are still rising in many states is solely guided by his personal political interests. Trump doesn't care about anything other than winning the election; his recklessness will probably cause an even higher death toll, both here and in Afghanistan. That was the point, not to debate the wisdom of leaving or remaining in Afghanistan.

("How long do you want to stay?": I strongly believe we should have gotten out of Afghanistan during the Bush administration, then during Obama's. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. I'll leave it at that.)

[greatauntoftriplets]

8. Translation: He wants to fuck up that region even more than it is now.

[former9thward]

11. How long do you want to remain there?

[Blue_true]

13. President Obama had crafted a much better plan.

Like it or not, we have obligations there now. Bush should have never gone in, there were other ways to get bin laden and his thugs. But we went in there and many Afgans have sided with helping us - what happens to those people? Do we leave them to be killed, which is likely their fate of we haphazardly withdraw. The country is riven by ethnic grievances, the Taliban is pretty much 100% Pastun (sp?) and is basically from the South and Central of the country - they are culturally more like Pakistanis. Groups in the North, NorthEast, and NorthWest are ethnically closer to the people of the countries that abut those regions. I hate to say it, but maybe we should use any influence we have to divide the country up into several countries, each with their own culture and Capitol - my belief is making that work in a lasting way would be better and less costly than any other route.

And we should not impose our western values on those cultures, as hard as it is for me to say that. Unfortunately, some places have dark ages thinking relative to women's rights and other rights. If we want to cause change to those views, then we must recognize that one possible outcome of that would be a seemingly never ending military entanglement.

[former9thward]

15. No and No.

We have no obligations there. Obama had 8 years. Whatever plan he had did not work. Our participation in WW II did not even last 4 years. No, we can't divide the country up. That is NOT our right or responsibility. It would lead to even more civil war. Let the Afghan people decide what to do. Yes, there will be death and unspeakable atrocities like there has been for decades. Afghanistan was a stable area before the Soviets invaded. Since then it has been chaos. We have to stop. Now.

[marble falls]

9. Its a good idea. But its going to blow up all over him. This will not be a simple pull out.