Donald Trump started it.
Joe Biden and Harris-Emhoff will finish it.
“It” is America’s exit from Afghanistan.
Right or wrong, American soldiers have been involved in Afghanistan since 2001 following the Muslim attack on 11 SEP 2001 that brought down two buildings in New York, punched a massive hole in the Pentagon in Virginia, and — thanks to brave passengers — plowed a furrow in a Pennsylvania field. (https://tinyurl.com/4chsxesb)
Over the more than two decades of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, more than 2,300 U.S. military personnel have been killed. (https://tinyurl.com/3t2nutmz)
Since World War 2, the U.S. has gone from war (Korea) to war (Vietnam) to war (Iraq 1 & 2) and numerous skirmishes.
All of the wars since WW2 were “no win” for the U.S. and its occasional allies.
- True, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was eliminated, but Iranians and their proxies soon filled the vacuum, a vacuum left by the Geo. H.W. Bush presidency. (https://tinyurl.com/6khnm2cm)
More than 4.500 U.S. military personnel lost their lives in Iraq between 2003 and 2020. (https://tinyurl.com/fetx49hu)
Americans are tired of “no win” wars.
Americans are tired of being the “world’s policemen.”
It is not fear; most of the men and women in uniform are brave enough.
It is simply knowing that the politicians allegedly “running” the wars don’t finish the job.
Harry S Truman was the last president to “finish the job.” (https://tinyurl.com/nxbn28jy)
”Allies” worried
America’s “allies” and “friends,” especially the Muslims, are concerned that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan will allow the Taliban to recover and, in turn, will help the so-called Islamic State, in its various incarnations, to reconstitute, therefore threatening the U.S.’ Muslim “fair weather friends.”
In addition, China (https://tinyurl.com/4dtnuyd6), England (https://tinyurl.com/4r7mekpy), and Pakistan (https://tinyurl.com/khh7a4e6) must be concerned about the resurgence of Islamic State.
Islamic State had operations in Muslim-dominated countries around the world.
In Iraq and Syria, it used many of those countries' existing governorate boundaries to subdivide territory it conquered and claimed; it called these divisions wilayah or provinces. By June 2015, IS had also established official "provinces" in Libya, Egypt (Sinai Peninsula), Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Algeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and the North Caucasus. It received pledges of allegiance and published media releases via groups in Somalia, Bangladesh, and the Philippines, but it has not announced any further official branches, instead identifying new affiliates as simply "soldiers of the caliphate". (https://tinyurl.com/59fdj4)
The question remains: As Islamic State reconstitutes on fertile ground (ibid.), will U.S. politicians volunteer Americans to contest Islamic State and its followers?
The alternative seems to be China.
That begs the question: Will the Biden/Harris-Emhoff regime allow China to spread its hegemony in an area the U.S. has for many years considered, rightly or wrongly, is own sphere of influence. Biden allegedly already has a financial stake in China.
- In an opinion piece by the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board, the publication contends that A May 2017 email thread that includes a discussion about “remuneration packages” for six people as part of a business deal with a now-defunct Chinese energy titan, CEFC China Energy. The Chinese company was international news a few years ago, after the U.S. government charged a CEFC-funded organization with money laundering, and its CEO was detained by Chinese authorities. CNN reported in 2018 that “at its height” CEFC was “hard to distinguish” from the Chinese government.
According to the emails, both Bidens were in line in 2017 to benefit from a deal with CEFC. One email appears to identify Hunter Biden as “Chair/Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC.” It also refers to financial payments in terms of “20” for “H” and “10 held by H for the big guy? (https://tinyurl.com/zjx2tcep)
China currently has a “One Belt, One Road" Initiative that extends, via land and sea, between China and Europe (see map, below). Toward that end, China is buying control of marine ports and offering to build railroads that would eventually expedite shipment of goods to and from China — as well as giving the Communists a financial and political foothold in all the nations on its routes.
- What this might imply for U.S. military and naval operations is anyone’s guess.
America passe’?
There is a notion that a nation can remain a “power” for a finite number of years.
- British Empire (1707 – 1914)
Greek rule (776 BCE to 323 BCE)
Roman Empire ( 27 BCE – 476 BC )
While the U.S. was “just another country” until World War 1, it has been a “world power” only since 1917.
Will the withdrawal from Afghanistan and reneging on agreements, combined with the emergence of China as a contender, and the demise of the Soviet Union and Russia’s influence, signal the beginning of the end for U.S. influence around the globe.
Will the renminbi (RMB) with an image of Mao Zedong replace U.S. dollars bearing the features of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln?
Wars contributed to the demise of former powers.
No win wars may prove to lead to the demise of the United States as a world power.
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