Committed To The Long Haul

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Hoover Institute

Committed To The Long Haul

by Max Boot

Monday, February 26, 2018

 

United States Army 8th Psychological Operations Battalion (Airborne) issuances, AF D040d Hoover Institution Archives

The situation in Afghanistan is frustrating and even enraging. Despite the death of more than 2,400 U.S. military personnel and the expenditure of billions, even trillions, of dollars over the past 16 years, the Taliban are as much of a threat as ever. They are well-funded—the United Nations estimates that opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan set a new record in 2017—and they have cross-border support from Pakistan, which has no intention of cutting them off despite the Trump administration’s cut-off of security assistance.

In January either the Taliban or other insurgent groups such as the Haqqani Network or Islamic State carried out several major attacks in Kabul, including besieging a major hotel popular with foreigners (22 dead) and setting off a bomb inside an ambulance in the middle of the city (over 100 dead).  Security conditions in much of the countryside are even worse. The American-backed government in Kabul is said to “control” or “influence” roughly 64 percent of the population, down from 80 percent in 2013. That leaves nearly 11 million people living in areas either “controlled” or “contested” by the Taliban. The government appear