The vacuum left by the coming de facto humiliating retreat of the U.S. military from Afghanistan at the hands of Pakistan and its Taliban proxy will likely be initially filled by a coalition of ascendant Taliban and a complement of China-Pakistan-compliant Afghan politicians. The $1 trillion U.S. investment in Afghanistan…
It is all over for the United States in Afghanistan except for negotiating surrender terms and a humiliating retreat; an exit parade of American vehicles as Pakistanis cheer their victory over us, courtesy of their Taliban proxies. Yet the incompetence continues, even as the year’s second American soldier was killed in Afghanistan.…
Pakistan, the Taliban’s inventor and long-time benefactor, hopes that once their proxies are again ensconced in Kabul, they will be responsive to its direction as they were in the 1990s. The generals in Islamabad — the de facto government of Pakistan — must know that it is a mistaken assumption.…
It is no longer a question of whether the United States will leave Afghanistan; it is a question of under what conditions. Will it be a repeat of the chaotic withdrawal from Vietnam in 1975 and America’s subsequent timidity in the pursuit of our national interests? Or will it be…
Who are “they?” Every Trump voter knows that. They are all of the Democrats, most of the media and many in the Republican Party. They make up what is known as the Deep State, an exclusive political country club of members not like Trump or us, more obvious than secretive, but…
(Nota bene: Editor’s title – key points being the risks when sub-contracting our foreign policy and ethnic nationalism as a counter-force to Islamism, the Islamic State being only one of many) Overruling many of his military and civilian advisers, President Trump has ordered the withdrawal of 2,000 American troops from Syria, bringing…
There is an extensive Taliban infrastructure and support network in Pakistan along its border with Afghanistan, which includes education, recruiting, training, financing and command and control centers. In these areas, the Taliban often operate freely alongside the Pakistani military and with the support of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence agency, the ISI.…
The China Daily, a Chinese government media outlet, published an article, “Pakistan key to Afghan peace process,” by an author from Pakistan, an ally of China, which not only drips with irony but unabashedly explains the Chinese-Pakistani plan for the future of Afghanistan. It originates from the “non-governmental” Beijing think tank, the…
There is a mind-numbing consensus among U.S. military leaders, past and present, that goes a long way to explain the 17-year stalemate in Afghanistan. They are clueless and stuck on automatic pilot. Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, who gives highly paid lectures on “Lessons of…
President Trump sent a letter to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan stating that relations with Pakistan are “very important” to solving the Afghan War and asking for his help and cooperation in advancing peace talks with the Taliban. It is a bit like asking former Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh to help…
Yes, it is President Trump’s war now, and he doesn’t know what to do about it. The bad news is: neither do those advising him. So, the Trump administration has chosen to prolong the stalemate by continuing an expensive, exhaustive and entirely inappropriate counterinsurgency strategy in the desperate hope that…
Armed separatists of the Balochistan [Pakistan] Liberation Army (BLA) stormed the Chinese Consulate in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi on Friday, triggering an intense hour-long shootout during which two Pakistani civilians, two police officers and three insurgents died. Although there have been numerous isolated attacks on Chinese personnel working in Pakistan…