On Afghanistan

It's remarkable how many things Donald Trump gets wrong without even trying.

Let's take, for example, his planned withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Ostensibly, it's because he has a principled stance against "endless wars". However, that's pure bullshit, as this piece from the New York Times points out:

President Trump asked senior advisers in an Oval Office meeting on Thursday whether he had options to take action against Iran’s main nuclear site in the coming weeks. The meeting occurred a day after international inspectors reported a significant increase in the country’s stockpile of nuclear material, four current and former U.S. officials said on Monday.

A range of senior advisers dissuaded the president from moving ahead with a military strike. The advisers — including Vice President Mike Pence; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Christopher C. Miller, the acting defense secretary; and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — warned that a strike against Iran’s facilities could easily escalate into a broader conflict in the last weeks of Mr. Trump’s presidency.

Now, I'm not one to say that we have to stay in Afghanistan for the next hundred years. I've often opined that Afghanistan, for most of its history, has been the graveyard of empires. It destroyed the Soviet Union, and while it won't destroy the United States, we've been in there for 19 years, with very little of benefit to either this country or Afghanistan to show for it. Afghantistan's fate was sealed when the late president Ronald Reagan turned it into a Cold War battleground, funding the very Islamists who would, decades later, come back to bite us in the ass. We have much to answer for in the utter dysfunction of Afghanistan; but nothing we've done since 2001 has made it appreciably better.

However, Trump's precipitous decision to cut tail and run is of a piece with his modus operandi. He has no strategy. He doesn't even have tactics. He merely wants to expunge the work, good or ill, of his two predecessors. And he cares not a farthing if long-suffering Afghans are consigned to another stint living under medieval religious fanatics who will turn Kabul's sports stadium into a death chamber.

And, of course, Trump made this move with no consideration for or consultation with our NATO allies. Remember, the only time that Article 5 of the NATO treaty has been called upon was in the aftermath of 9/11. NATO soldiers have served and died next to Americans for almost two decades. It's one thing if, collectively, the US and NATO decided that it was time to cut bait. But to do it without even a reach-around serves Trump's goal, which is to destroy the links between Europe and the US. This is one more instance of childish petulance.

I have no solution for Afghanistan. It's going to be a mess no matter what we do for the next few decades. And it might be something we have no ability to fix, because we really don't understand the country, even after all these years. Unless one wants to pursue the Mongol option of utter eradication—which, of course, didn't eradicate Afghanistan—there are few good choices. But to repeat the fall of Saigon, with no consideration for our allies, is of a piece for Trump. In his diseased mind, he wants to hand Joe Biden one more mess with which to deal, regardless of the cost in human lives. Before those on right or left laud his "peace initiative", they should consider what this does to our standing among allies, and the value of our word. They don't care, obviously. Those on the right don't want to expend treasure for something which doesn't directly benefit them. Those on the left are against any projection of American power, and would be happy with the US being cut down to size. Neither of them care for long-suffering people caught in the cross-hairs. They don't count, or impinge on their consciencenesses.

However, Trump has no solution for Afghanistan either. He doesn't care about a solution. He doesn't care about Afghans. He was willing to make a bad deal with the Taliban. The idea that he's doing this out of some desire for peace is ludicrous. He's merely destroying things on his way out. And it will be one more black mark on this country.