Anti War groups support Iran, Assad and Russia

[randolph85]

Those guys are just looking at the polls and are trying to get elected by idiots that have no idea where afghanistan is on the map.

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/10/20/poll-more-democrats-than-republicans-support-prolonging-afghanistan-war/

But if one looks at it rationally. What would delaying everything by one year going to really accomplish.

The Afghanistan war is not popular and the average American doesn't care if the country goes even deeper into civil war than it already has. The support of the likes of Trump and Sanders is based on their foreign policy because Afghanistan is not even a campaign issue, but rather a question they may be asked about here and there in interviews. In that it would look bad for America if they lost Afghanistan so we might as well keep some forces there just so we don't look bad later on during our presidency.

Delaying the withdrawal just protects the Afghan gov't for that much longer. I don't know the specifics of the withdrawal but I don't think it was ever supposed to be a full withdrawal. There would still be an air campaign and the personnel necessary to maintain that campaign.

[randolph85]

I would not refer to the decision to extend the presence of 5,500 US troops in Afghanistan as Obama's policy. He wanted out, but has come under intense pressure from the his own US general Campbell. "Obama's wars" by Bob Woodward explains the tension that exists between the White House, military, and Pentagon with regards to Afghanistan and Iraq (at the time)

Obama has set the stage for the US exit no matter how hard the military tries to stall it. 5,500 is insignificant and the US General's original request was 20,000.

At the end of the day it is his word that prevails. The 5,500 number is sufficient for training their Afghan proxies and maintaining the air war which will probably be the cornerstone of war the for years to come, regardless of arbitrary dates like 2014 or 2016.

[Insight]

At the end of the day it is his word that prevails. The 5,500 number is sufficient for training their Afghan proxies and maintaining the air war which will probably be the cornerstone of war the for years to come, regardless of arbitrary dates like 2014 or 2016.

I think the delay for the US withdrawal is to not let Kabul fall as long as Obama is President.

As for airpower, the US has significantly reduced airpower in 2015 compared to other years.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/20/us-afghanistan-air-power-idUSKBN0MG1KC20150320

This is due to rules of engagement that Obama's National Security team (Susan Rice) have put in place that restrict what the US military can do. Their 2 missions are to train the Kabul regime security forces and to conduct counterterrorism operations against remnants of AQ.

One of the major reasons the Taliban have been able to capture so much territory this year is due to reduced or lack of US air support for the ANA.