re: Trump to address nation on Afghanistan

It's a shite situation, for sure. Afghanistan was one of the few American wars that I was not in favor of, but by 2007 or so I had come to appreciate the need push back against the terrorist groups in Pakistan in the NWFP that were running wild across the border, and against their own government.

Whether he admits or not, Musharraf needed us to be there to help keep the country relatively stabilized during the transition phase after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007. But the transition happened, and Musharraf left in 2008. And then SEAL Team Six took out Osama bin Laden in May 2011. And then in September 2014, Ashraf Ghani replaced the wretched Hamid Karzai as president of Afghanistan. So even though I was not in favor of the war initially, I could see that there were good reasons for a U.S. presence over the years.

That being said, the situation is starting to get hopeless, because the source of the problem (i.e., Pakistan) is getting worse, and now Iran and Russia are adding their nefarious influence to make things even worse. So I'm flexible to whatever plans McMaster, Mattis, & Kelly, might have, but I'm skeptical of anything too big.

It would be better to concentrate our efforts more directly on the real sources of the problems--i.e., Iran, Pakistan, and Russia.