Trump losing Afghanistan to ISIS, arranging to withdraw and leave rural areas to Taliban

[JosephDredd]

So, as we've talked about before, Trump's idiotic military strategy has given more of Afghanistan to ISIS than they've ever controlled before (and then the Trump administration tried to cover up the information)...

http://www.newsweek.com/us-losing-so-badly-afghanistan-trump-administration-hid-figures-796466

The U.S. and allied local security forces have failed to secure most of Afghanistan, according to a recent investigation that came shortly after the Pentagon refused to release unclassified data on the conflict for the first time ever.


Despite waging nearly 17 consecutive years of war and spending up to $1 trillion, the U.S.-led attempt to defeat the Taliban has left the insurgents openly active in up to 70 percent of Afghanistan, according to a BBC study published Tuesday. The report also found that a rival ultraconservative Sunni Muslim organization, the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), controlled more territory than ever, further complicating the beleaguered effort to stabilize the country.


What a federal watchdog chief found particularly “troubling” and a “worrying development,” however, was that none of this information could be included in its mandatory quarterly report on the war. John Sopko, head of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), said he was instructed by the Department of Defense (DOD) “not to release to the public data on the number of districts, and the population living in them, controlled or influenced by the Afghan government or by the insurgents, or contested by both.”


A letter preceding SIGAR’s report added, “SIGAR was informed this quarter that DOD has determined that although the most recent numbers are unclassified, they are not releasable to the public.”


SIGAR said it is the first time the watchdog was blocked from releasing this information, on which it has reported since January 2016, and it was the first time ever “that SIGAR has been specifically instructed not to release information marked ‘unclassified’ to the American taxpayer” since it was created by Congress in 2008 to monitor the already extensive U.S. role in the conflict. SIGAR was deeply critical of the Pentagon and said the public should be especially concerned because trends had historically painted the picture of an increasingly unsuccessful and costly war effort.


The next day, the Pentagon released the statistics, and Navy Captain Thomas Gresback, a spokesman for coalition troops in Afghanistan, told Newsweek in an email, “A human error in labeling occurred” and “It was NOT the intent...to withhold or classify information which was available in prior reports.”


Gresback denied that the figures were censored and said the U.S.-led coalition was in control of 56 percent of the country, the lowest number reported to date. The BBC study Tuesday placed that number even lower, at 30 percent, less than a third of Afghanistan. Gresback said insurgents controlled a record-breaking 14 percent, while the BBC study estimated 4 percent, claiming the vast majority of the country was still disputed.


Both evaluations were released after a week of heightened violence in Afghanistan that saw both the Taliban and ISIS claim attacks that killed a collective of at least 138 people, mostly civilians.

Here's a bit more about Trump's failing plan in Afghanistan and the order to suppress information... and also his determination that he would never negotiate with the Taliban.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/p...ibans-progress-in-afghanistan/article/2177139

NEW SECRECY SURROUNDS WAR: The latest report from the Pentagon’s independent watchdog is sharply critical of the military’s increasing secrecy about key metrics for measuring success in the 16-year-old Afghanistan war. The latest report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction decries the “instruction” from DoD to withhold unclassified data that was previously public, such as how many districts the Taliban controls in Afghanistan and the fighting effectiveness and casualty rates of the Afghan military.


“This development is troubling for a number of reasons, not least of which is that this is the first time SIGAR has been specifically instructed not to release information marked ‘unclassified’ to the American taxpayer,” wrote Special Inspector General John Sopko, in the preface to the report released this morning. “Aside from that, the number of districts controlled or influenced by the Afghan government had been one of the last remaining publicly available indicators for members of Congress — many of whose staff do not have access to the classified annexes to SIGAR reports — and for the American public of how the 16-yearlong U.S. effort to secure Afghanistan is faring,” Sopko said.


SIGAR has been releasing data about district-control data since January 2016, but the Pentagon, under the direction of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, has told it to stop releasing information that could be of use to the enemy. “I think the enemy knows which districts it controls,” Sopko told NPR in an interview this morning.


It also represents a further clampdown of information after an October report said SIGAR could no longer publish information on Afghanistan’s military forces.


“In a significant development this quarter, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan classified or otherwise restricted information SIGAR has until now publicly reported,” the October report stated. “These include important measures of [Afghan National Defense and Security Forces] performance such as casualties, personnel strength, attrition, capability assessments, and operational readiness of equipment.”


NO TALKS WITH TALIBAN: The new order for secrecy comes as a series of deadly attacks has rocked Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul, raising doubts about the linchpin of President Trump’s strategy, namely inflicting painful military defeats on the Taliban in order to motivate them to negotiate for peace. Trump, who reluctantly approved the plan to stiffen the resolve of Afghan forces with frontline combat advisers and overhead close-air support, yesterday lashed out at the Taliban, ruling out any negotiations while hundreds of innocent Afghans are slaughtered.

Well, now, his administration is telling their top generals to negotiate with the Taliban. they're trying to withdraw, essentially following Obama's plan, but now guaranteeing that Islamic extremists control more of the country than ever.



https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/28/world/asia/trump-afghanistan-strategy-retreat.html

Newest U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan Mirrors Past Plans for Retreat

The Trump administration is urging American-backed Afghan troops to retreat from sparsely populated areas of the country, officials said, all but ensuring the Taliban will remain in control of vast stretches of the country.

The approach is outlined in a previously undisclosed part of the war strategy that President Trump announced last year, according to three officials who described the documents to The New York Times on the condition of anonymity. It is meant to protect military forces from attacks at isolated and vulnerable outposts, and focuses on protecting cities such as Kabul, the capital, and other population centers.

The withdrawal resembles strategies embraced by both the Bush and Obama administrations that have started and stuttered over the nearly 17-year war. It will effectively ensure that the Taliban and other insurgent groups will hold on to territory that they have already seized, leaving the government in Kabul to safeguard the capital and cities such as Kandahar, Kunduz, Mazar-i-Sharif and Jalalabad.

The retreat to the cities is a searing acknowledgment that the American-installed government in Afghanistan remains unable to lead and protect the country’s sprawling rural population. Over the years, as waves of American and NATO troops have come and left in repeated cycles, the government has slowly retrenched and ceded chunks of territory to the Taliban, cleaving Afghanistan into disparate parts and ensuring a conflict with no end in sight.

When he announced his new war strategy last year, Mr. Trump declared that Taliban and Islamic State insurgents in Afghanistan “need to know they have nowhere to hide, that no place is beyond the reach of American might and American arms.”

...

Mr. Trump has long called for ending the war in Afghanistan and only reluctantly accepted Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’s advice to send an additional 4,000 troops in an attempt to claim victory.

The Trump administration is also instructing top American diplomats to seek direct talks with the Taliban to refuel negotiations to end the war, and two senior Taliban officials said on Saturday that such talks had been held in Qatar a week ago. If they happen, the negotiations would be a major shift in American policy and would serve as a bridge to an eventual withdrawal of United States forces from Afghanistan.

Thoughts?

 

[Armbars]

I didn't even know Afghan was still a thing.

Well, so much for ISIS being something of the past.

 

[all caps]

Sounds like it's all going according to plan, tbh

 

[GSP_37]

What happened to "best generals, best strategies"?

Right now, I'm thinking the best way to destroy them is to reassign his incompetent staff to work for them and that'll fuck them up good.

 

[Quequeg]

Cant blame Trump here, it is obvious we are gonna leave sooner or later, been there far too long as it is.

 

[PEB]

It gets better Australia claims that US has been drawing up plans on bombing Iran. It sounds like Bolton been working on these plans surprise surprise. Funny post recent revelations that Israeli PM saying that he controls President Trump with his supporters apparently with audio.

 

[TheTimeIsNotNow]

Sounds like it's all going according to plan, tbh

Leaving the door open for another trillion dollar war down the line. Very shrewd business move.

 

[GSP_37]

Cant blame Trump here, it is obvious we are gonna leave sooner or later, been there far too long as it is.

What's the point of going if they're not going to get the job done and done right for good?

 

[7437]

Cant blame Trump here, it is obvious we are gonna leave sooner or later, been there far too long as it is.

Pretty sure defeating ISIS is easy. Trump just doesn't want to

 

[Teppodama]

What happened to "best generals, best strategies"?

Right now, I'm thinking the best way to destroy them is to reassign his incompetent staff to work for them and that'll fuck them up good.

That was actually pretty funny. Good job

 

[ultramanhyata]

So, as we've talked about before, Trump's idiotic military strategy has basically given Afghanistan to ISIS (and then the Trump administration tried to cover up the information)...

http://www.newsweek.com/us-losing-so-badly-afghanistan-trump-administration-hid-figures-796466



Here's a bit more about Trump's failing plan in Afghanistan and the order to suppress information... and also his determination that he would never negotiate with the Taliban.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/p...ibans-progress-in-afghanistan/article/2177139




Well, now, his administration is telling their top generals to negotiate with the Taliban. they're trying to withdraw, essentially following Obama's plan, but now guaranteeing that Islamic extremists control more of the country than ever.



https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/28/world/asia/trump-afghanistan-strategy-retreat.html



Thoughts?

Mexicans and the press are the new number one threat to America. We need to draw down our terrorist fighting forces overseas and focus on the war against Jose and CNN here at home.

 

[Rematch]

We've been there for far too long. There was a time when both the left and the right agreed on that. But now politics...

 

[hillelslovak87]

To drain a swamp, you must first bomb a wasteland. Can't profit from ended wars.

#BestBrain

 

[K1levelgrappler]

I think it's a stretch to say that Trump is losing Afghanistan since there's nothing to win there in the first place. Nobody wants the L on their record so it's just gonna get kicked down the road over and over. I can honestly imagine this going on for another 50 years.

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

There are no good plans for Afghanistan. Instilling the required infrastructure for a thriving society goes way beyond the resources people are willing to commit. It will always be a zoo. The strategy is a minimizing strategy it seems, and there aren't better pragmatic options that I can see.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

Since when did Trump even have a military strategy to begin with ?

 

[Bunk Moreland]

This is a good thing. Unless we need to fight them there do they don’t come here. Or we fight so our children won’t have to fight them. Oh wait, both those are bs lmfao.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

What's the point of going if they're not going to get the job done and done right for good?

Not sure if serious.

Pretty sure defeating ISIS is easy. Trump just doesn't want to

 

[Losfer Words]

 

[bushman505]

I say we stop allowing anybody at all from these shitholes into the USA and completely withdrawal and let ISIS have it. Waste of time and money.