On January 1, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted his dislike for the U.S. providing aid to Pakistan while Pakistan continues to support the Afghan Taliban. The same day of President Trump’s tweet U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Mihail Golin, a Special Forces Soldier who was born in Latvia, was killed in Afghanistan. Based on these two events, I felt the need to assemble all of my Afghanistan writings that followed Trump’s inauguration, in one place.
First, in September 2017 I self-published “Afghanistan: Two Neglected Discussions” which examines U.S. interests in Afghanistan and compares them to other concerns such as Russia and the People’s Republic of China. I later discussed this article on The Loopcast.
Second, in October 2017 I published “The Afghan Taliban’s Nuclear Umbrella” at Inkstick Media which examines how Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal provides the U.S. pause in the pursuit of its policy objectives in Afghanistan.
Third, in November 2017 I published “U.S. Objections to the Afghan Taliban: Ends, Ways, or Means?” at Blogs of War which examines how the U.S. doesn’t object to Afghan Taliban influence in Afghanistan but instead objects to how the Afghan Taliban pursue this influence.
Think for yourself, disagree with me as you will, but every bit of blood, treasure, and time the U.S. expends in Afghanistan would be better spent pursuing achievable policy objectives related to Russia and the People’s Republic of China. If the U.S. loses its superpower status, the U.S. and the world will be worse off, and the U.S. headstone will read “Here Lies the U.S. Who Squandered Their Superpower Status by Majoring in the Minors.”
