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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIndian Fake news: What India risks if it gets on board Trumps Afghanistan project
http://www.hindustantimes.com/columns/what-india-risks-if-it-gets-on-board-trump-s-afghanistan-project/story-GjDyaNxuLqQFPuM3NT27uM.html....
India has to trust that Trump will do what Bush nor Obama didnt, and go the distance, sticking to his word on Afghanistan. Let us be under no illusion that his stated goals can be achieved in a couple of years. The history of Afghanistan suggests it will more likely take decades, even with the sustained best efforts of the US and its allies.
Delhis quandary: What if Trump or his successor changes their mind and pulls out in 5/10 years? Even if the task is unfinished, it would be easy for the next occupant of the White House to dismiss the Afghanistan project as Trumps folly, and spin a withdrawal as in Americas interest. Obama did that in Iraq, to his great political gain.
But an American change of heart would leave India badly exposed: unlike the US, India cant simply pull up stakes and leave Afghanistan to the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, the Islamic State, and any other wolves in the pack that Pakistan nurtures. The US may bear the greater share of the cost of Trumps project, but the stakes are higher for India.
So, much as the American President would like India along for the ride in Afghanistan, Delhi has much to ponder before climbing on board.
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Even a bigger issue, I see is Trump remaining completing his term ... a weak President piggybacking on other country to satisfy his ego. The way chetto declared yesterday:
That is why shortly after my inauguration, I directed Secretary of Defense Mattis, and my national-security team, to undertake a comprehensive review of all strategic options in Afghanistan and South Asia. My original instinct was to pull out, and historically, I like following my instincts. But all my life I've heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office. In other words, when you're president of the United States. So I studied Afghanistan in great detail, and from every conceivable angle. After many meetings, over many months, we held our final meeting last Friday at Camp David with my Cabinet and generals to complete our strategy. I arrived at three fundamental conclusions about America's core interests in Afghanistan.
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Indian Fake news: What India risks if it gets on board Trumps Afghanistan project (Original Post)
MyNameIsKhan
Aug 2017
OP
Eliot Rosewater
(31,131 posts)1. He attacked Pakistan, ruined our relationship with them.
A country like Sweden needs to take over America, right away.
maxrandb
(15,373 posts)2. It's fucking INSANE!!!
India is the largest fucking Democracy on the fucking planet...AND WE DON'T EVEN HAVE A FUCKING AMBASSADOR to India at the moment.
- The fucking diplomatic detail that has been working in the Afghan region for close to a decade has been disbanded and we have over 250 fucking State Department jobs sitting empty.
and if you listen to the MSM, it's all fucking normal
The piece of shit reads a fucking teleprompter like he's at a fucking tennis match (look left---look right---look left)
Fuck, I've heard the expression "whistling past the graveyard", but America is fucking marching past the fucking graveyard with a fucking tuba.
It's fucking INSANE!!!