"Will the United States Really Go to Zero Troops in" Topic

…Afhanistan?

"In the final U.S. presidential debate of 2016, candidate Donald Trump sharply criticized his opponent Hillary Clinton on the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011. Specifically, he claimed that by withdrawing all U.S. forces from that country, "she gave us ISIS because her and Obama created this huge vacuum." On Feb. 29 of this year, President Trump authorized Amb. Zalmay Khalilzad to sign the awkwardly titled "Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan between the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban and the United States of America." The agreement calls for the United States to withdraw all of its troops from Afghanistan within 14 months, but given Trump's sharp criticism of a similar, previous course of action in Iraq, it is unclear whether a full U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan will really happen.

The agreement itself suggests that it will not. To understand why requires examining the agreement in a bit more detail. The text of the document contains three main parts. In the first part, the United States agreed to a number of terms. Chief among these is to draw down its military forces to a total of 8,600 troops within 135 days (which has nearly happened) and, subject to the Taliban meeting its obligations, to withdraw all of its remaining forces within another nine and a half months. Washington also agreed to facilitate a prisoner exchange between the Afghan government and the Taliban (which has been happening, albeit slowly). In the second part, the Taliban agreed not to allow any of its members or other groups—explicitly including al-Qaeda—to use Afghanistan to threaten U.S. security or for recruiting, training and fundraising activities designed to do so. The third part of the agreement includes a requirement for the United States to seek endorsement from the United Nations for the deal, which Washington has already done. And it includes these two sentences:…"
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Amicalement
Armand

One can hope.

Joe Collins

I hope so also.

Hmmn. They will run down the numbers and the country will erupt in violence making the US look bad.

The somebody will have 'an idea' of how to win and the cycle will repeat…

Or – something else will pop up to distract everyone and Afghanistan will just be quietly forgotten. Maybe China will try?

I KNOW, I KNOW --let the Russians do it since it seems that many think they can win everything?

Russ Dunaway

Russia won't go back any more than the US will return to Vietnam.

China? Sounds crazy but I could see them going after some of the rare earth mines….

Hmmmm, might be a great testing ground for our drone soldiers, vehicles, and aircraft.

They will run down the numbers and the country will erupt in violence

Are you talking about Afghanistan or the U. S.? Maybe we should bring the troops home as they could be used to quell the violence in some of our own cities. General order number one will be all looters are to be shot on sight.

"Maybe we should bring the troops home as they could be used to quell the violence in some of our own cities".

You'd think, but NO, that is verboten, since even the police aren't permitted by many of their governors and mayors to keep the peace.

"…Maybe we should bring the troops home as they could be used to quell the violence in some of our own cities…."

Imho… using the Army to control civil population is not good… anywere….

Amicalement
Armand