Yup, kings in Kaffiristan.

"Mr. Obama’s decision largely extends much of the current American military role for another year. Mr. Obama and his aides were forced to make a decision because the 13-year old mission, Operation Enduring Freedom, is set to end on Dec. 31.

The matter of the military’s role in Afghanistan in 2015 has “been a really, really contentious issue for a long time, even more contentious than troop numbers,” said Vikram Singh, who worked on Afghanistan policy both at the State Department and the Pentagon during the Obama administration and is now at the Center for American Progress in Washington.

American officials said that while the debate over the nature of the American military’s role beginning in 2015 has lasted for years, two issues in particular have shifted the debate in recent months.

The first is the advance of Islamic State forces across northern Iraq and the collapse of the Iraqi Army, which has led to criticism of Mr. Obama for a military pullout of Iraq that left Iraqi troops ill-prepared to protect their soil."  NY Times

------------------------

This guy (Obama) is low hanging fruit for the generals.  They rolled him for the surge in Afghanistan and now they are doing it again.   Stay tuned as they continue to press him for gradual increases in mission and numbers. 

As the Times states they can't stand the thought that the client state in Kabul will fall apart as the one in Baghdad did this year.  They will do anything to preent that.

Obama is very vulnerable and increasingly desperate and will become more so.  It's anyone's guess what he will do if the rest of Ramadi falls to IS.  pl

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/22/us/politics/in-secret-obama-extends-us-role-in-afghan-combat.html?_r=1 

Mr. Obama’s decision largely extends much of the current American military role for another year. Mr. Obama and his aides were forced to make a decision because the 13-year old mission, Operation Enduring Freedom, is set to end on Dec. 31.  NY Times

 

 

Comments

[Charles I]

I thought the SOFA/deal was for a limited number, i.e., 15,000 troops, specifically tasked.

Maybe Congress will simply refuse to pay. One could hope.

[alba etie]

Col Lang
Al Jeezera is reporting that the Iraqi Army has taken back the oil refinery complex at Bijou ( ? ) - and that the Daash offensive at Kobane has stalled . Maybe we will not see that many more US troops reintroduced to Iraq. My bet is that the residual force in Afghanistan will only be there for political cover -

[samuelburke]

But i thought it was widely believed that the military listened to the political class; or do they decide what wars to fight and for how long?

Who is in charge?

[FB Ali]

You'll have to go on hoping for a long, long time!

The Congress is likely to jump at the chance of putting more troops in there - or anywhere else. As do the generals.

As for the SOFA, the new dispensation in Kabul will not let it stand in the way of getting more US involvement over there.

If the full surge could not beat the Taliban, this is unlikely to do more than hold Kabul and some of the bigger cities while the countryside falls to the Taliban, especially in the South.

We will have another 'Iraq scenario' in Afghanistan - the US providing air power while the locals provide the cannon fodder. With the added involvement of US SF here (which is likely to also start happening in Iraq-Syria sooner or later).

[VietnamVet]

Colonel,

As the Vietnam War fades into the mists of time together with the Korean War, it is astonishing to see its unacknowledged effects still at play. Blaming Water Cronkite, Jane Fonda, and Congress for stabbing the military in the back and losing the war is hellishly effective. As long as volunteers and mercenaries do the fighting and dying, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will never end.

Like all things; the Long War being fought from Ukraine to Somalia will cease, either with a whimper by a broke nation or a nuclear big bang.

[turcopolier]

Samuelburke

This man is so weak and lame that he is a standing temptation to those who are not. pl

[Aka]

alba etie,
two battles in a very long war which will probably go on for decades. And with enemies of ISIS growing out of the initial shock, they too will fight better.

[jr786]

Operation Enduring Money Pit is more like it. I read that the Taliban are back in control in parts of the country. 13 years, tens of billions of dollars and that?

We need a Truth Commission.

[Fred]

So Obama is going to continue "Operation Enduring C.F." just long enough for the disaster to hit the expected Republican inaugural in 2016. Looks like the political scientists finally figured out how to due strategy. They might want to reconsider though, especially given who's training all the Afghans in Kabul - which is where the bulk of our troops will be when rebellion happens:

"The Pentagon plans to take the lead role in advising and training Afghan forces in southern and eastern Afghanistan, with ... and Turkey in Kabul."

How's our great NATO ally doing in aiding us in the fight against ISIS? Maybe someone can explain that to the White House staff.

[William R. Cumming]

IMO incompetent military/civilian leadership now threatens the continued existence of the USA nation state.

Again, IMO NATION STATES that cannot control their borders are not NATION-STATES. I believe OPEN BORDERS and/or INEFFECTIVE BORDER CONTROLS are designed to undermine the NATION-STATE SYSTEM created in part by the TREATIES OF WESTPHALIA [1648]!

Thus, security is threatened domestically and internationally and the military cannot protect the security of the NATION-STATE SYSTEM and its populations.

[Haralambos]

Some readers here might be interested in this piece by Professor Elizabeth Samet, who teaches literature at West Point: http://tinyurl.com/ojajcku

It is about the literature of long wars and the importance of such literature for us in the present with her reflections on teaching it this year.

[makosog]

update on the simmering division of ISIS against Al Queda...

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/11/al_qaeda_in_the_arab_1.php

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), an official branch of al Qaeda, has released a video rejecting the Islamic State's announced caliphate and chastising the group for sowing discord among jihadists.

[turcopolier]

All

The generals have no ideology other than a devotion to the constitution and their oath, but in this case they walked Obama back from a policy he had adopted. Why did they do this? They cannot accept the idea od defeat in Afghanistan as they clearly were defeated in Iraq. pl

[Charles I]

It was sold like there'd be peace in the capital with little excursions from non-urban bases to play whack-a-mole, is what I recall.

The analysis I recall, on the other hand, was exactly as you paint it, even holding Kandahar unlikely, but our Kabulian patrons telling us who we should shoot at in the meanwhile.

[Haralambos]

Col.,
Thank you for your explanation in this comment and in your observation in your post regarding the generals rolling Obama. Am I correct in assuming that you believe there is a huge element of hubris on the part of the generals in this decision? (I know your take on how some get to be generals.) Was Iraq their loss or W's "the decider's" and Cheney's loss or failure? The article I linked to in my earlier comment referred to Alexander's response to his "generals," if that term can be used, when they effectively mutinied refusing to go on:

'Alexander informed his disgruntled troops, “As for a limit to one’s labors, I, for one, do not recognize any for a high-minded man, except that the labors themselves should lead to noble accomplishments.” He assured them that “those who labor and face dangers achieve noble deeds, and it is sweet to live bravely and die leaving behind an immortal fame.”'.

[different clue]

jr786,

And we should not be satisfied if all they offer us is a Truthiness Commission instead.

[different clue]

If we punished illegal employERS for their illegal employMENT of illegal aliens . . . punished them savagely enough that their fellow employERS beheld and trembled . . . the illegal immigration problem would solve itself as illegal employMENT dropped to zero with the imprisonment of every last illegal employER.

As long as America is deliberately maintained as a bottomless magnet of illegal employMENT, a multi-thousand mile border will never be securable.

[different clue]

Makosog,

Will ISIS now counter-accuse of AQAP of backtracking, cowardice, treasonism, borderline un-Islamism, borderline Shia-sympathism, etc.?

[Babak Makkinejad]

Ohm yes, Alexander.

Another man who destroyed a functioning state and left nothing better behind to replace it.

The Great King at least maintained peace and tranquility from the Upper Sea to the Lower Sea, from the Chinese border to Bosporus - and administered a modicum of uniform Law.

What came after was centuries of warfare among states that aspired to restore that Empire; to no avail.

[turcopolier]

Haralambos

These are not swords around a throne. Think international business scum or Walmart managers. these are not Bonaparte's marshals or Lee's Lieutenants. pl

[Ex 11B]

Bla bla bla...Fence!....Bla bla bla....Bengazi!

Here in Wing-nut Central (Houston) you can drive around on a hot summer day and see illegals all day long. They are the only ones doing any actual work. Not hiding, but in plain sight. That's because the Sociopaths that the Fox News target demographics worship love them some low labor costs.
You go to ONE employer of that sort, haul him out-side, shoot him in the head, film it and show it on Fox news and loudly announce THAT will be our new policy for dealing with such matters and it will be problem solved. Much cheaper and more effective.
I never hear this proposed by our friends on the right. I wonder why?
Because it sounds harsh and cruel? Please don't make me laugh.

[The beaver]

All

Breaking News:

Def Sec Hagel stepping down according to the NYT

"Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is stepping down under pressure, the first cabinet-level casualty of the collapse of President Obama’s Democratic majority in the Senate and a beleaguered national security team that has struggled to stay ahead of an onslaught of global crises."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/us/hagel-said-to-be-stepping-down-as-defense-chief-under-pressure.html?_r=0

[Haralambos]

This is one more piece of relevance to the discussion here by Prof. and Col. Andrew Bacevich: www.tomdispatch.com/post/175926/tomgram%3A_andrew_bacevich%2C_daydream_believers/
The title is "Top Five Washington Assumptions on Mideast that Are not True."

[samuelburke]

But Col, if the generals have such a deep devotion to the Constitution then why do they not demand that if they are going to be sent into war the order must come from a congressional vote as the Constitution states.

[turcopolier]

samuelburke

You misunderstand the law and the constitution. POTUS is constitutionally commander in chief and commands the armed forces. What you are calling for is mutiny. Be careful. If the principle of the right to mutiny of the armed forces when they don't like policy is established you will rue the day. If you do not like US policy it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to put pressure on the elected government not that of the flags. pl