Obama: Americans will not leave Afghanistan
Yesterday, Barack Obama announced a long-awaited sensation. After consulting with national security experts, foreign partners, members of Congress and the Afghan president, he made a decision: American soldiers will remain in Afghanistan for now. At least 5500 people. Their mission will be the same: first of all, conducting anti-terrorist operations, training and supporting Afghan government troops. The Americans, as before, will be based in Kabul, Bagram airport, Jalalabad and Kandahar.
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This is expected because Obama's critics constantly accuse him that IS filled the vacuum that was created after the US withdrawal from Iraq, and now the same grim prospect looms in Afghanistan. And this is a sensation because Obama is approaching the end of his presidency without fulfilling one of his main promises.
At one time, Obama went to the polls under the now famous slogan Yes We Can, meaning, among other things, that he can stop the senseless wars of the George W. Bush era. There was so much power in this slogan that Obama even received the Nobel Peace Prize in advance; this is peace without even having time to establish it anywhere. On December 18, 2011, the completion of the withdrawal of troops from Iraq was officially announced. True, there were still employees of PMCs and various security structures connected in one way or another with the government. And what is curious is that in 2013 their number was the same 5500 people.
In the summer of 2014, during the rapid advance of ISIS to Baghdad, Obama ordered the return of up to 300 soldiers there “to protect American diplomats,” but today in America they are already talking about the fact that the troops returned two and a half years later in order to help Iraqis fight ISIS . This means Obama never fully fulfilled his promise regarding Iraq. And now, the same thing happened with the war in Afghanistan, where American troops have been for 14 years. During this time, America spent more than $1 trillion there and lost more than 2230 people.
A year ago, Obama planned to complete the withdrawal of troops by the end of 2016, i.e. shortly before the end of his presidency. Then he announced that “the Afghan page has been turned” and admitted that “Americans have now learned that ending wars is more difficult than starting them.” But apparently, even then, Obama did not fully understand how difficult it was. And yesterday it was announced that next year 9800 soldiers will remain there, and by 2017 their number will be reduced by almost half. Adjusting these plans will require an additional $15 billion in the next year alone.
The background against which Obama announced his decision is not the most favorable for the United States. Only recently, the Taliban stormed the city of Kunduz in the north of the country, and when they were knocked out of there, American attack helicopters attacked the local hospital. As a result, 22 people died, both patients and medical personnel. An investigation into the tragic incident has been launched in the United States, but Doctors Without Borders is demanding independent international intervention.
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