Drawdown
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wrote on 17 Nov 2020, 22:30 last edited by xenon
Right or wrong - feels weird take military action during a transition.
Why not do this 12 months ago and manage the fallout?
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wrote on 18 Nov 2020, 00:19 last edited by
Campaign promise.
You might not believe it, but Trump does try to do what he says he will do.
If he winds up not being elected, just hide and watch how much of that you get from Joe...
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wrote on 18 Nov 2020, 21:26 last edited by xenon
Sure - but part of a withdrawal is planning for and managing what happens afterwards.
Taking out troops is the easy part of the promise. If you never had to manage the situation afterwards, why not bring all our troops home.
Presumably there's a reason Trump didn't withdraw over the last 4 years.
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wrote on 18 Nov 2020, 21:42 last edited by
Presumably because as the article said 'conditions were not right'. I'm not sure quite what that means. We are not withdrawing all our forces, nor are our allies to the best of my knowledge.
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Presumably because as the article said 'conditions were not right'. I'm not sure quite what that means. We are not withdrawing all our forces, nor are our allies to the best of my knowledge.
wrote on 18 Nov 2020, 21:47 last edited byPresumably because as the article said 'conditions were not right'. I'm not sure quite what that means. We are not withdrawing all our forces, nor are our allies to the best of my knowledge.
Afghanistan is 4500->2500, I think Iraq is 500 fewer but I don't know the base.
I'm a little skeptical on the rationale though. Presumably it's closer to what Jolly said, a campaign promise.
But - it also doesn't seem like there's a path to defeat the Taliban. So, perhaps this is just inevitable.
FWIW, McConnel said this was a mistake.
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wrote on 18 Nov 2020, 21:49 last edited by
HR McMaster's take:
I think it really goes beyond just the paltry number of troops, right? These are historic low numbers of troops anyway in both Afghanistan and Iraq. And — but I think it's really the overall strategy. I mean, essentially, in Afghanistan, Nick, what we have done is, we have partnered with the Taliban against the Afghan government.
I mean, the Afghan government officials are sitting across the table from the Taliban in Doha. And what they're hearing is, hey, we defeated the world's greatest superpower. Why are we even talking to you? We're going to dictate the terms.
pbs.org/newshour/show/mcmaster-u-s-has-partnered-with-the-taliban-against-the-afghan-government
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wrote on 18 Nov 2020, 22:08 last edited by
Don't worry, Joe has a plan.
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wrote on 19 Nov 2020, 02:58 last edited by
