Monday, Dec. 16, 2019 | 2 a.m.
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The Afghanistan Papers report was critical of the United States government for misleading the American people on the status of the war in Afghanistan, which has been going on since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
I never expected the war to end until the root causes of it had been eliminated. In other words, unless the Taliban were completely defeated and destroyed, and al-Qaeda and ISIS were not present in Afghanistan, U.S. engagement would be required to continue on an indefinite basis.
Today, those root causes are still present and the complete disengagement of U.S. troops is not foreseeable any time soon. It seems incongruous with reality to have a major troop withdrawal while these root causes are still present and can germinate into a repeat of 9/11. That would be totally unacceptable and not in our national security interests.
The odds of current peace talks with the Taliban will be successful and take root in a hospitable environment are remote. For this reason, the American people should expect that we will have troops committed to Afghanistan for the indefinite future, and not be fooled by any reports or expectations to the contrary.
