We hear that all is well in Afghanistan…..well here on IST I have been trying to give my readers the “rest of the story”……
And that story is that things are going to crap in Afghanistan…..
When he took over as commander of the ongoing US war in Afghanistan late last year, Gen. John Nicholson was seen as opposed to the drawdown, and there was even speculation he’d seek increases in troop levels there, though he initially said levels should just remain flat.
Today, however, during his testimony to Congress, Nicholson is starting to push a major new military buildup for Afghanistan, complaining to Congress that the war is in a “stalemate,” and that several thousand more US troops need to be sent to break that stalemate.
The assessment of a “stalemate” is not new, and is a very generous interpretation of the state of the Afghan War, over 15 years in, as the Afghan government has actually been losing ground left and right, holding less territory now than at any time since the occupation began.
It is always the need for “more troops”…..has anyone considered the possibility that that will not help?
Here is a unique concept……stop all ops in Afghanistan and bring everyone home……if things get worse or out of control we can always re-invade….
After all we have troops in 70% of the world……
Although US elite troops typically only appear in the media when an event of particular relevance (such as the capture and murder of Osama bin Laden in 2011), this does not mean that they are not active. As this infographic above shows, elaborated by Statista, these forces were present in 138 States last year or 70 percent of the world’s countries according to official Special Operations Command data published by TomDispatch. 55.29 percent of deployments were in the Middle East, a 35 percent decease since 2006. In Africa, deployments of elite US forces skyrocketed 1,600 percent during the same timeframe.
Like I said…”we are everywhere!”
Disturbing to say the least. WHY are we in some of these countries? I can’t imagine that we’ve been invited in every country we’re operating in and these are the known ops. I’m sure there are some black ops going on making this more or less pessimistically accurate.
Some countries are using the US as their military….after all it is less expensive for them….chuq
What a great concept: pull out entirely, bring everybody home, invent a new and improved crisis, re-invade under a whole new set of semantically-instigated rules. C’mon, Pentagon/CIA think of all the extra $$$ involved in that, and in the interim no body bags coming home. More good propaganda. Of course the Pentagon could always donate Afghanistan to Pakistan, and then invade Pakistan, claiming they took Afghanistan without permission. The concept worked for George Bush the First in Kuwait.
Sounds like a viable plan to me…it worked before and it will work again….chuq
Wow, even Russia knew enough to get out after 10 years – we just refuse to learn, eh?
So very true….as did the Brits and Alexander….no one has benefited by the invasion and occupation of the country. Have a good day….chuq
I guess ‘freedom’ has devolved in meaning. Seems the only freedom our government cares about is the freedom to make war on whomever we please. Justification is no longer needed, since all 455 members of that elite group are corrupt, and are no longer anything but a part of the problem.
gigoid, the dubious
Shame that war is profitable for some….chuq
Aye, ’tis a shame indeed…
Only 70%? I am sure you can do better than that over the next few years!
Best wishes, Pete.
With Trump leading the charge I bet we can….chuq