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How Trump swallowed a bitter Afghanistan pill
“Obama was suspicious of what the generals were telling him. They were telling him to put in more troops than he wanted to,” said Eric Edelman, who served as undersecretary of defense for policy under George W. Bush. “Trump does recognize that just pulling out is not an option. If the Taliban takes over and then there’s a terrorist attack, that is a big political risk for him,” Edelman added.
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A Hobbled Commander in Chief Tries to Rally the Country
Looking on the positive side, Trump confessed to changing his mind and did lay out the stakes in the region. Restating that it will be up to Afghans ultimately to secure their country and that the United States would commit to helping them arrive at that goal while putting pressure on Pakistan was reassuring. Former ambassador Eric Edelman recapped the positive elements
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Costs of Afghanistan recommitment are hard to quantify
President Trump has unveiled his new policy for Afghanistan. The president outlined the new plan in a prime-time address Monday night and said he will authorize a small increase in the number of U.S. troops deployed there. The Pentagon will determine the specific numbers. The president didn't set any timetable or deadlines for getting those troops out of Afghanistan, saying that will be determined by conditions on the ground. Which means, 17 years into this war, there's likely still a long way to go.
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Trump Is Right About Afghanistan
It turns out, as my frequent co-author Hal Brands has argued in a thoughtful essay on the difference between academics and policymakers, that outsiders are drawn to the provocative (and sometimes simplistic) policy position because they are never held accountable for their bone-headed proposals. Policymakers are, however, and that is why all successful presidents evolve away from the policy through sound bite that worked when they were outsiders, but not in the real world of governing.
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Trump’s new Afghanistan plan to be injected into already complicated budget fight
Kate Blakeley, a defense budget analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said she thought the requested OCO increase would be more like $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion "as soon as the administration has settled on an end-strength for Afghanistan and funded as part of a continuing resolution at the end of September."
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Navy’s 7th Fleet no stranger to high ops tempo
Crews stationed overseas like those in 7th Fleet face less certainty when it comes to deployments, training and other things that are more reliable for a U.S.-based crew, according to Bryan Clark, a retired submariner and now a fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.