IS ISIS DEAD OR ALIVE? AFGHAN LONG WAR SHOULD END

Every time President Trump tries to push his plan for an end to the Afghanistan Long War (ALW) Yesterday that’s what this conflict is—our first 20 year war.   So there is a clear correlation between the President’s threats to reduce our troops in Afghanistan and  stories appearing in FOX news of how ISIS is still “alive”, and “it’s still a threat”.

As citizens we must all be aware of the biases of the talking heads (particularly low ranking retired generals who appear as “experts’ on FOX) that claim they are “informing” us.  We must realize that there are powerful elements in our establishment who make a fine living supporting wars.  (Long ago President Eisenhower termed these forces “the military-industrial complex” (MIC)).  The MIC are making a fulsome living simply keep us in a never ending war.  Sadly many have a financial motive to keep it going.  These powerful forces in our establishment and government need ISIS to continue to be considered—an existential threat.   I’ve even heard that old saw “ we must fight them there so we don’t have to fight them here”—used so long ago by boy President George Bush  to inveigle us into the Afghan Long War.  As long as ISIS and the other “bad guys” are still seen as a threat they will keep the funds rolling in to the massive military establishment and the lucrative cottage industries and retired talking head generals that have grown up around these companies. 

But is ISIS still alive?  There are significant variations in opinion about this from our intelligence services and the Pentagon.  To this author, it seems clear that those who have a financial stake in the MIC and in the ALW these folks continue to see ISIS as “alive and well”, while those who have no financial interests see otherwise.  We as citizens, voters and tax payers should all be suspicious of those who are profiting from the ALW and may have opinions that are informed by those profits. 

To most disinterested parties and outside observers, ISIS is done for.  Their leader may (or may not) still be alive.  They are confined to a few “Wild West”” areas in mountainous border lands between Afghanistan and Pakistan.   They are no threat to us.  If peace finally does come to Afghanistan and the Taliban are part of that government, the Taliban fighters (no push overs) will be the natural enemy of any ISIS takeover.   It’s difficult to sate this now but the fact is that the Taliban were always only a local domestic Afghan force.  They were never a threat to us.  They will continue to fight us for as long as we remain there.  So draw our troops down, move out and let the Taliban protect Afghanistan.  That’s want they want. 

Let’s end the Afghanistan Long War. Pull US troops out.  Let’s put that money to refueling the infrastructure of the USA...a place that has been badly ignored over the years spend on the Afghanistan Long War.  

We need these folks for our protection.  But we also need a strong and vibrant ecoomy and society to sustain the military forces we actually need.  So keep this in mind.  We probably do not have to spend  more than the next ten largest economies on the planet spend on their militaries to be able to defend our interests around the world.