TEHRAN (FNA)- US troop levels in Afghanistan continue to drop, with officials claiming that they remain well ahead of schedule, but the Pentagon and the White House are offering conflicting figures on how many troops remain in the country.
The Pentagon says that the goal has been for 8,600 troops to be left in the country by mid-July, and they are so ahead of schedule they say they’ll meet that number in June, which is just a few days away.
The White House, by contrast, suggested that the US has somewhere in the realm of 7,000 troops left in Afghanistan, and that the level is set to drop even further. Since the US has made troop levels largely a secret, which is true is not always apparent.
Either way, the number of troops keeps declining, and at a rate where the US could be out of Afghanistan within less than a year if they keep up the pace. Trump has denied having any specific date set, but others have reported the goal is to be out by the November election.
At any rate, Afghanistan today looks grim. As already maintained by Trump, the US has spent more than a trillion dollars and lost more than 2,400 troops there, with no victory in sight. Many US commanders have also declared the strategic situation a stalemate.
Add to this the fact that not a single Afghan wants to see US occupying troops in their country, even government officials and armed forces, and you get the idea why the US military is yet to see any real victory there. By Trump’s own account, the US military has become bogged down in Afghanistan. The US is not winning the war and troops better leave.
Trump is far from alone in his Afghan struggles. Successive presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama cycled through multiple strategies without bringing the war to an end. Right now, the violence remains relentless. Armed conflict continues to cause severe harm to civilians.
The US has also NOT helped curb Afghanistan's massive drugs trade. SIGAR says billions of dollars have been spent trying to stop Afghanistan's opium production, which is the largest in the world. But on the ground more Afghan opium is growing than ever before – thanks in large part to a secret understanding and deal between the CIA and the drug producers. Drug cultivation and production has grown 50-fold since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Some of Trump's advisers want to keep several thousand additional troops in Afghanistan, while others appear to favor the US reducing its role in the war. That said, replaying the past will result in the same future. Further troop presence is a bad idea. What it will not do is defeat the insurgency and end the war. If the US expands the occupation of Afghanistan, they may well end up committing their armed forces to a failed war that’s permanent.
Washington warmongers remain committed to the war in Afghanistan and the region. For them the conflict generates income for the military industrial complex.
Indeed, the botched “War on Terror” has only brought immense, atrocious, sustained loss of life and chaos to the people of Afghanistan and the rest of the region. From their standpoint, all foreign occupying troops must leave Afghanistan, despite the inherent security risks. They say the war and occupation only advances the aims of those who profit from the circumstances - US military contractors and terrorist groups.
Under the circumstances, it is past time for the world community to robustly push for an Afghan peace process since security and stability are crucial for the development of the war-torn country as well as for the advancement of regional peace and security.
Afghanistan and its neighbours are on the same page in promoting the peace talks and encouraging all parties in this regard. The pressing question is whether the United States and its partners are also on the same page?
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