Donald Trump's Chance To End A Forever War
(Disclaimer: La Tonique Media LLC does not represent any political ideology. While we do not espouse any political beliefs, we do seek to provide a balance perspective by incorporating voices from both sides of the political spectrum.)
By Matthew Laurence
We are two months out from a potential Joe Biden Presidency. In the meantime, current President Donald Trump is challenging the election in key states alleging fraud. As it stands those claims will fall short. In the interim President Trump should be looking to lock up key campaign promises before he leaves office. One of the original animating issues of his campaign going back to 2016 was ending the bipartisan "forever wars." Even if Donald Trump leaves the White House feeling cheated, he has an opportunity to change American foreign policy for the better. President Trump should end the war in Afghanistan, bring the troops home, and walk away as the hero he wanted to be.
Master Sgt. Trevor deBoer has been deployed to Afghanistan on three separate occasions since the war began in 2002. In an interview given to Stars and Stripes earlier this year, he was asked why he joined the fight in the first place. "So my sons don't have to fight this war." However, after nearly two decades that's exactly what happened. His son, Spc. Payton Sluss has also served in Afghanistan. Including the same airbase as his father. Although technically Operation Enduring Freedom ended in 2014, the United States is still in Afghanistan. Moving along from hunting al-Qaeda to nation building.
The war in Afghanistan is the longest-running conflict in American history. In the nineteen years since it was first started under George W. Bush, it has cost Americans in lives, money, and influence. A report from Brown University labeled "The Costs of War" estimated that the U.S. has spent over 2 trillion dollars in Afghanistan since 2001. That is money that is not being spent on crumbling infrastructure at home and piling on to our national debt.
More important than monetary costs are human lives. Nearly 2,400 American service members have died fighting in Afghanistan, and it is estimated about 20,000 additional members have been wounded according to the Defense Department. For Afghanis, the casualty numbers are much higher. More than 58,000 members of their national military and police, of which the United States is responsible for training, have been killed. And unfortunately, more than 42,000 Afghani civilians have also lost their lives.
What those numbers do not show, however, are the people affected who have not been killed. “Almost no civilian in Afghanistan has escaped being personally affected in some way by the ongoing violence,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan. The country continues to rank low, despite Washington's best efforts from afar, in political freedom and women's rights. The unfortunate reality is that forcing cultural change in Afghanistan will not happen under America's military’s watch.
Afghanistan has a long history of foreign powers rolling into the country. Whether it was the Soviet army being tricked by the CIA to invade in the 1970s, or the British trying on three separate occasions in the 19th and 20th century. All empires find themselves in a similar unwinnable situation. The Taliban use guerrilla tactics. Ambushes and IEDs are common use. Along with Afghanistan’s open plateaus and high mountains this makes it extremely difficult to wage a traditional war. Add this in with being an outside power who will likely never win popular support it becomes even more difficult. At the height of the fighting US troops levels peaked at 100,000. It has since dwindled down to around 4,500 as of this year. That small occupying force has been tasked with training the Aghan military and police to take ownership of their country. This has become a losing battle as the Taliban still has control over large swaths of the country, particularly the countryside.
Some understand this. Following an agreement signed between the US and the Taliban in February of this year, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew to Doha, Qatar to begin brokering a peace agreement between the current Afghan government and Taliban leadership. Although both sides are skeptical, having them open to some type of ceasefire and reconciliation is enormous progress. That US-Taliban agreement had four key elements. The most important being the Taliban agreed to no longer allow foreign terror groups to use Afghanistan as their home base. The other is that the United States agreed in theory to the complete withdrawal of all American forces.
Ending the forever wars has been a winning issue for Donald Trump. It was arguably, along with immigration and general Washington corruption, the issue that propelled him to the presidency. Donald Trump sewed up the Republican nomination to the presidency by attacking Jeb Bush on this very line. In the debate before the South Carolina primary, Donald Trump attacked Jeb Bush for supporting his brother's war in Iraq which he called "a big fat mistake." While Jeb Bush was whining and playing to a now-dead type of civility in politics about how George W. Bush was just trying to keep us safe, in Trumpian fashion he finished Jeb's political career. "The World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that, that's not keeping us safe." The media thought this was the end of Donald Trump. What they did not recognize was that they had missed a shift in the Republican electorate. Donald Trump surged in the polls. They were no longer the party of forever wars. Donald Trump would go on to win the party's nomination and later the Presidency. There is even research to suggest that in key 2016 swing states in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania Donald Trump won in counties where there were the most casualties in forever wars like Afghanistan.
President Donald Trump visits troops at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan on November 28, 2019, during a surprise Thanksgiving stopover. (Shealah Craighead | White House)
So why hasn't he? The impulse to be against these forever wars has been with Donald Trump since his campaign in 2016. First is his inexperience in office and wielding power. When you are trying to implement a policy that is as counter to the political system as ending America's longest-running war, some experience is required to not get sidetracked and wield presidential power effectively. Despite having good impulses Trump also lacks both the knowledge and will to get it done. Does anyone believe Donald Trump has a deep understanding of the history of this region and these wars? I hope not. Neither of those two obstacles would be an issue if it wasn't for a third reason. Even though he has said a thousand times he "hires the best people" in reality, he does not. When it comes to ending the forever wars in the Middle East, he could not hire worse people.
Trump's ego and affinity towards tough guys and men in uniform led him to staff his administration with people who were fundamentally opposed to any withdrawal of American forces abroad. Former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis resigned after failing to convince Trump that the United States needed to remain in Syria of all places. Even worse, there was a time where longtime Iran warmonger John Bolton held a high-level position and the President's ear. These people along with others have at every step worked to undermine Trump's stated goal of drawing back American forces in general.
Finally, there is a reason to be optimistic. After four years Donald Trump has issued orders to the Pentagon to bring the troop levels down in both Afghanistan and Iraq by Jan 15. After finally pulling the trigger and firing Defense Secretary, and former Raytheon executive, Mark Esper for dragging his feet there is hope. In the Pentagon, three "high-level civilians" resigned due to their opposition to the order. In their place, Donald Trump has temporarily put three people who are sympathetic to the cause of bringing the troops home. One of which is retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor who is an outspoken critic of the Afghanistan war as well as a new acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller.
But is it too little too late? Why would Donald Trump wait until after an election to do something that helped win him the Presidency in 2016? While I am hopeful that President Trump can do the right thing on his way out of office by bringing an end to America's longest-running war, I know there will be people working to bide time. Those who want the US to stay only have to wait until Joe Biden is in office. The continuation of forever wars have always been a bipartisan consensus. Donald Trump’s instinct here is the outlier. Potential members of a Biden administration such as former National Security Advisor Susan Rice wrote an op-ed this year for the New York Times about keeping American troops in Afghanistan. In Congress both Republicans and Democrats have vociferously come out in favor of that policy. If there was a time that withdrawal is possible it is between now and inauguration day.
Donald Trump needs to stop the side-show and commit to doing something he promised the American people over four years ago. The opportunity to end a forever war is on the table. Do the right thing. Maybe then he will get the high praise in the history books he so desperately seeks.
Matthew is a political writer for La Tonique.
