By Charles V. Peña, RealClearDefense: “If the U.S. were engaged in a war of national survival, we would be willing to accept the costs posed by engaging in counterinsurgent war.”
Afghanistan War Enters 18th Year: A Timeline
By Phillip Walter Wellman, Stars and Stripes: “As the 18th year begins, Stars and Stripes has recapped key points throughout the war, which has spanned the terms of three presidents. Combat veterans now serve with their sons and daughters, some of whom were too young to remember 9/11.
From Washington Examiner: “What are we doing there? Why are we still fighting this war after 17 years?"
By David Craig, RealClearPolitics: “America’s inability to frame military engagements in the context of ends, ways and means, but instead as a politically divisive tool for partisanship, comes at the expense of lost lives and trillions of dollars.”
Public Realism on Afghanistan
By William Ruger, RealClearPolitics: “The perception that we haven’t been successful following the original mission’s accomplishments and have no clear strategic objective going forward has probably led many Americans to reconsider support for the initial invasion.”