A bipartisan delegation of five senators visiting U.S. troops in Afghanistan for the Independence Day holiday issued a stark warning about the Trump administration’s lack of strategy for a military conflict that has dragged on for more than a decade.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) noted with concern that Trump’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has yet to visit the country, and the administration has not yet nominated an ambassador in Kabul.
“It’s more than just dropping bombs that will win in Afghanistan,” Graham said. “Secretary Tillerson needs to come to Afghanistan quickly.”
Six months into the Trump administration, Hundreds of State Department posts — including many that concern diplomatic strategy for the Middle East and Asia — likewise remain vacant. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said the military told him during the delegation that they have become alarmed by this “hollowing out of the State Department.”
The senators’ visit came just a few weeks after the Trump administration approved a large increase in the number of U.S. soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan, adding several thousand more to the roughly 9,000 currently stationed. But lawmakers from both parties slammed the lack of a “comprehensive” strategy that goes beyond military action.
“Nobody on the ground here believes there is a military-only solution,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the only other Democrat on the delegation.
“A solution needs to have a military angle, but also an economic and diplomatic plan,” she continued. “It needs to involved domestic political reconciliation, and it needs to be regional in nature, involving multiple countries in the area and account for external actors and influences. The administration owes it to the American people and to our men and women putting their lives at risk, to provide that clear vision of where we’re headed.”
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis offered an especially bleak picture of the Afghanistan at a Senate hearing in June, noting that “the enemy is surging.”
“The Taliban had a good year last year, and they’re trying to have a good one this year,” he said.
I’ve tried three times to come up with something, I’ve got nothing. Except tribalism is hard to break.
Even if Trump nominated people they would be unqualified to handle the job.
He’ll do so just as soon as they discover oil in Afghanistan.
Two Democrats, in addition to Warren, Whitehouse was there and is quoted in this and the linked Times piece. Also there according to the Times piece was McCain, who led the delegation. Neither mention senator number 5.
Direct from the military, more on the mess in State. And, while it’s concerning Trump wants to hand over everything to the Prntagon (run by a general), at least the generals keep saying they need state. In this circus of an administration, probably both because the military can’s do it along and because Trump will no doubt blame any lack of success on the military, and totally distance the administration. Generals don’t like to be conned. Too much at stake.
Trump refuses, actively, to appoint people to critical posts at State. Tillerson looks for oil in Afghanistan…
trump is play acting at being an actual president. It’s all about his ego.