Trump's Message to Afghanistan and the Middle East, Memories of the Lion of Panjshir, and an Unspoken Warning for Kim Jong-un

THE REAL NEWS TODAY IS President TRUMP'S SPEECH ON AFGHANISTAN. Real Clear Politics says that President Trump’s first prime-time address Monday night before a military audience assembled at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall near Arlington National Cemetery, "leaned on themes of national unity, love of country, and America’s fears since 2001 of terrorist attacks. Aware that his decision to deploy more US troops to Afghanistan would be controversial, the President wove together a narrative that implicitly acknowledged America’s own deep divisions and racial unrest, while describing a strategy for war-torn Afghanistan that he vowed would produce 'an honorable and enduring outcome.' ” • • • THE SPEECH. On Monday evening, President Trump chose to continue America’s longest war. As a candidate, he advised President Obama to withdraw, calling the Afghanistan war “a complete waste.” Forthrightly, President Trump recognized his change in position : "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. So I studied Afghanistan in great detail and from every conceivable angle....When I became President, I was given a bad and very complex hand, but I fully knew what I was getting into : big and intricate problems. But, one way or another, these problems will be solved -- I'm a problem solver -- and, in the end, we will win.” The President said America will “win” against terrorists in Afghanistan and South Asia. President Trump told the nation that he has spent months with his advisors weighing US options in Afghanistan, and reluctantly agreeing with the current and former generals who advise him that ending US support now would undermine the goal of reducing global terror threats. Trump acknowledged the risks of additional US casualties and the necessity of military sacrifice. He didn't quantify the number of troops he agreed to send, or how long the campaign will last, instead talking about squeezing the Taliban into reconciliation and pressuring Pakistan to end its tolerance of and support for terror groups operating within its borders. The President called Pakistan an ally, but an unreliable one, and warned that continued US aid was not a given : “We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting. But that will have to change, and that will change immediately. No partnership can survive a country’s harboring of militants and terrorists who target US service members and officials.” President Trump sketched the history of US presence in Afghanistan -- saying it began as a hunt for al-Qaida under President Bush, and became a policy to help the Afghan government stand up to protect the Afghan people under Obama. But, the President said it would conclude under his leadership in “victory.” The strategy he outlined includes his predecessors’ approaches, with the elimination of Obama’s set timetables for troop withdrawals. Trump also said that his approach will be economic and diplomatic, as well as military. But, President Trump emphasized : “From now on, victory will have a clear definition : attacking our enemies, obliterating ISIS, crushing al-Qaeda, preventing the Taliban from taking over Afghanistan, and stopping mass terror attacks against America before they emerge." • In his introductory remarks about healing America, by using the example of the American military, President Trump made it clear where his heart is -- with the US military who have courageously defended America for almost 250 years. We could feel his admiration for them and his commitment to them as he spoke. President Trump has, in effect, given America's military -- which has been handcuffed by the micro-management of the Obama White House, with even the caliber of ammunition to be used being directed from Obama's Oval Office -- one last chance to make order in Afghanistan -- and by implication, in the wider Middle East. • The President’s remarks won praise from Republicans on Capitol Hill, particularly from key lawmakers such as Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who have often criticized Trump and urged him to define a strategy for Afghanistan. Senator McCain was particularly positive about President Trump's address, and, unlike his usual attacks on the President, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Trump took a "big step in the right direction" Monday night. McCain encouraged a more sustained effort by the President to sell the American public on the US role in the region : "He must speak regularly to the American people, and to those waging this war on their behalf, about why we are fighting, why the additional sacrifices are worth it, and how we will succeed." Senator McCain said that his committee would hold hearings in September to review the administration’s policies, but, McCain praised the President’s strategy : “The unfortunate truth is that this strategy is long overdue, and in the interim, the Taliban has made dangerous inroads. Nevertheless, I believe the President is now moving us well beyond the prior administration's failed strategy of merely postponing defeat.” Most Republicans applauded the decision to avoid a timetable for troop withdrawals, agreeing with Trump's assertion that troop level decisions should reflect conditions on the ground rather than a specific timeline. House Speaker Paul Ryan also praised Trump's address, saying the term the President used -- "principled realism" -- summed up the Commander-in-Chief’s evolving foreign policy doctrine. • Democrats, who mostly criticized the substance -- or, as they argued, the lack of substance -- in Trump's address, disagreed with the policy of increasing troop levels without a set time frame. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi criticized Trump for departing from his previous calls during Obama’s second term to withdraw forces from Afghanistan, describing the President’s approach as a commitment into perpetuity with few benchmarks for success. She joined several Democratic colleagues Monday in faulting the address for its lack of specifics. Pelosi said : "When President Trump says there will be no ceiling on the number of troops and no timeline for withdrawal, he is declaring an open-ended commitment of American lives with no accountability to the American people." [Accountability? Do we remember her notorious 'you have to pass it to find out what's in it' cynicism about Obamacare.] • We were expecting Libertarians to resist extending the Afghanistan war and Senator Rand Paul, who generally disapproves of military intervention, said the mission in Afghanistan "has lost its purpose" and called it a "terrible idea" to send more troops. • • • DEFENSE SECRETARY JAMES MATTIS. Real Clear Defense said on Tuesday that the Afghanistan war strategy that President Trump announced Monday night "was remarkable in that it was not a string of angry tweets but the product of a meticulous policy review." Defense Secretary Mattis said : “The process was rigorous.” Shortly after his inauguration, Trump said he directed Mattis to undertake a comprehensive review of all strategic options in Afghanistan and South Asia. But until a few weeks ago, it appeared the Afghanistan policy was very much in limbo, stalled by internal White House rivalries that pitted the generals against the isolationists. But, President Trump said : “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.” • Mattis, a General in the Marine Corps known for his blunt talk and disciplined approach, was instrumental in assembling the team that put together a strategy that Trump could live with. The team included the State and Treasury Departments, the Attorney General, the Director of Homeland Security. Even the Director of the Office of Management and Budget was included for cost implications. The Trump White House doesn't lack for Generals. Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, national security advisor, and Chief of Staff retired General John Kelly coordinated the policy review “to make certain everyone who had equities was heard eventually,” Mattis said. “I'm very comfortable that the strategic process was sufficiently rigorous.” • Retired Lieutenant General Thomas Spoehr told Real Clear Defense that the game plan agreed upon at Camp David on Friday was "a triumph for Mattis and McMaster." Spoehr said : "As far as Mattis goes, I would say his position and stature have been strengthened even further." • Trump agreed to give Mattis leeway to add forces as needed to help shore up Afghanistan’s security forces so they can retake their country from the Taliban. Part of the strategy is also to pressure the Afghan government to stabilize the country and make it clear that this is no “blank check,” as the President called it, saying : “Our troops will fight to win. This will be a 'conditions and not a time-based approach.' This is not an open-ended commitment by the United States.” • Another key part of Trump’s strategy is that there will be no “nation building” or “democracy building.” Trump said : “Those words are stricken from the vocabulary.” He insisted : “We will no longer use American military might to construct democracies in far away lands, or try to rebuild other countries in our own image -- those days are now over.” • The President's speech makes it clear that Mattis and McMaster believe that ending the 16-year war and stabilizing Afghanistan requires engaging local powers, especially Pakistan. In a public ctitivism of Pakistan, Trump said he will seek a closer partnership with India for economic help in Afghanistan -- something India has been doing for many years -- and take a tougher approach to nuclear-armed Pakistan : “We can no longer be silent about Pakistan’s safe havens for terrorist organizations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond. Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effort in Afghanistan. It has much to lose by continuing to harbor terrorists.” • Secretary Mattis said in a statement that he has directed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to “make preparations to carry out the President’s strategy” and he will start discussing details with NATO allies. • • • AFGHANISTAN -- THE LONGEST WAR. After al-Qaida, which at the time was housed by the Taliban leadership of Afghanistan within the country, committed the 9/11 attacks in America, the nation united to defeat their ideology. But, today, a weary and divided nation heard the President say that continued involvement in the region is necessary for America's own security. This, President Trump said, is preferable to allowing the terrorists to re-establish their stronghold. He offered the opposition a chance for discussions when, if ever, they are a willing partner for peace. Presently, the terrorists have no interest in peace. So, President Trump spoke loud and clear about the future : “From now on, victory will have a clear definition: attacking our enemies, obliterating ISIS, crushing Al Qaeda, preventing the Taliban from taking over Afghanistan, and stopping mass terror attacks against America." • These are not the words of a President content to dabble in war while terrorist forces gather strength. They are a battle cry. • • • THE LION OF PANJSHIR. Nora Asad wrote a long essay in Artefact on March 20, 2016, about Ahmad Shah Massoud, whose title of honor is the "Lion of Panjshir." Asad hailed Massoud as a man who found himself on a mission to stand up against the odds and battle oppression and intolerance throughout Afghanistan : "Despite being outnumbered, outgunned and receiving little to no international support, this man soon went on to become the greatest national hero the country had ever seen. The legendary guerrilla fighter is remembered as the greatest military strategists and the most charismatic leader of the 20th Century. One of the few leaders with a heart of gold, he strived for an independent and secure Afghanistan. He was the brain behind the resistance movement against the Soviet occupation between 1979 and 1989....Massoud, said Asad, "had a particular way of fighting a war : his strategy wasn’t to engage in an open conflict with the enemy, but rather to weaken his nemesis by attacking their weak points and growing the resistance against the Soviets. He wasn’t one to use women and children as slaves or suicide bombers and didn’t believe in the killing of innocent civilians. He fully supported women’s rights, the right to free education and was opposed to repression, terrorism and foreign influence; he was fighting solely to serve the Afghan people, to achieve his goal of an independent, democratic Afghanistan." Massoud told a country steeped in sharia : “The future government should be formed through elections held by the people, in which both men and women should take part. The only form of government that can balance the different ethnicities is democracy." • Massoud’s genius and devoted support of his people enabled him to be called ‘the Afghan who won the Cold War’ by the Wall Street Journal. Massoud reached out to the Afghan people and maintained that same level of loyalty among the Afghans throughout the Soviet invasion and until the start of the 21st Century, when he was killed by al-Qaida suicide bombers. Having fought off and ended the Soviet invasion, Massoud’s next challenge was looming around the corner. He continuously pleaded with the West for help in his efforts to capture leading Taliban and Al-Qaida commanders, but he was left alone. He addressed the world in a conference one year before the attack on the World Trade Center. He warned President Bush, saying : “If we don’t make peacekeeping measures, I can guarantee that the war will take itself abroad and the Taliban will not only be a problem for Afghanistan, but it will become a danger for the world.” Two days after Massoud's murder, the 9/11 attack took down the World Trade Center. • Ahmad Shah Massoud was the one person who stood up against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and fought for the country. No Afghan has had so many foreigners write about about him as Massoud. He played a huge part in securing an independent Afghanistan, a notion that is still proving a problem in the country. In 2001, the Afghan Interim Government under President Hamid Karzai officially awarded Massoud the title of "Hero of the Afghan Nation." One analyst in 2004 said : "One man holds a greater political punch than all 18 living [Afghan] Presidential candidates combined. Though already dead for three years....Since his death on September 9, 2001, at the hands of two al Qaida-linked Islamic radicals, Massoud has been transformed from mujahedin to national hero -- if not saint. Pictures of Massoud, the Afghan mujahedin who battled the Soviets, other warlords, and the Taliban for more than 20 years, vastly outnumber those of any other Afghan including those of Karzai. A Massoud Foundation was established in 2003, to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghans, especially in the fields of health care and education. It also runs programs in the fields of culture, construction, agriculture and welfare. A major road in Kabul was named Great Massoud Road. A monument to Massoud was installed outside the US Embassy. A street in New Delhi, India, is named after Ahmad Shah Massoud. It is the first time that such an honor has been extended to a leader from that country as part of close ties between Afghanistan and India. The road near the Afghanistan Embassy is a "symbol of ties" that binds the two nations that have always "enjoyed excellent relations." • In the Spring of 2001, the Lion of Panjshir addressed the European Parliament in Brussels, saying that Pakistan was behind the situation in Afghanistan. He also said that he believed that, without the support of Pakistan, Osama bin Laden, and Saudi Arabia, the Taliban would not be able to sustain their military campaign for up to a year. He said the Afghan population was ready to rise against them. Addressing the United States specifically, he warned that should the US not work for peace in Afghanistan and put pressure on Pakistan to cease their support to the Taliban, the problems of Afghanistan would soon become the problems of the US and the world. • • • DEAR READERS, Massoud was right. And, if anybody had listened to the Lion of Panjshir, perhaps President Trump would not have needed to make the Monday evening speech about trying one more time to save Afghanistan for the Afghans. That was a constant theme for Massoud, who said : "We will not be a pawn in someone else's game, we will always be Afghanistan!" • But, I feel sure there were other interested people listening to President Trump on Monday -- the North Korean military and their Dear Leader Kim Jong-un. Trump's speech could not have given them comfort. North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un had already decided last week not to fire ballistic missiles at Guam, reserving the right to change his mind if “the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions,” according to North Korean state media. After the UN Security Council approved tougher sanctions against North Korea for its intercontinental ballistic missile tests, the North warned that it was considering launching a salvo of ballistic missiles into waters around Guam in a show of force demonstrating an ability to surround Guam with “enveloping fire.” That same day, President Trump stressed that North Korean threats will be met with “fire and fury like nothing the world has ever seen.” For a week, the two sides hurled threats and warnings at each other repeatedly, leading some observers to conclude that the two sides were close to nuclear war. • But, Kim blinked. • Then while lowering his sword, Kim Jong-un stressed that he may still carry out his plan if the US does not change its approach to his country. Notwithstanding the bluster and threats -- normal for North Korea -- it is clear NK is taking a step back, while maintaining the right to change course and follow through on the original plan if deemed necessary. Kim, having reviewed the plans and decided against immediate action, may be signaling that he is open to a diplomatic resolution, which the Trump administration has been adamantly pursuing in hopes of avoiding a very costly military alternative. Secretary Tillerson said it again Tuesday at a apress conference. • American Thinker's Russ Vaughn wrote on Tuesday that Kim and his generals may be re-considering because of the possible innihilation of their country by American aircraft. The devastation wrought by Marine F-35s, Air Force F-15s, F-16s, F-18s, and other aircraft from bases in South Korea and Japan, as well as from America's carrier strike groups, would all be vectored in on what Vaughn describes as "actually a fairly small target, equal in size to a slice of coastal California from Marin County to San Diego going inland a little over ninety miles to include Sacramento. That's not much area when you're able to muster an air armada of that size. And we haven't even mentioned our strategic bomber forces that would be targeting Kim's massed infantry, artillery, and armor, which would quickly become defenseless, with their air defenses seriously degraded and their air cover utterly destroyed on the ground and in the air....With their futuristic target acquisition capabilities, these F-35s can locate and strike any objective in North Korea without Kim and his high-hatted marshals ever knowing that death and destruction are on the way until they're vaporized. North Korea's air force, while large, is essentially an outdated, outmoded force that will require some luck to outlast Saddam Hussein's if we go in after it. The addition of the F-35 Lightning to that battle plan just makes the reality of such swift destruction all the more certain." • Obama wanted to be known as the President who stopped wars and not one who started them, unless he thought it would enhance his legacy. Because of this, he withdrew from Iraq, creating ISIS; he waffled in Syria, resulting in the death of a half a million people; and he did nothing about North Korea, where many have said it is now probably too late for effective action short of war -- until Monday evening. President Trump spoke not just to America but to the world. Unlike Obama, Trump and his team understand that we live in a dangerous world. They know that "strategic patience," is often just nonsense -- a way to avoid hard decisions. President Trump knows that when someone tells you he is going to kill you, you should believe him. When ISIS says it will destroy the West, calling ISIS a JV team is not an adequate answer. When North Korea regularly threatens the United States with a "sea of fire," Obama's "strategic patience" does not get the job done. Kim Jong-un is unstable and may even be psychotic. Can he be trusted not to commit national suicide by attacking America? It would be foolish to believe so. Kim Jong-un's anger over the US-South Korea joint military exercises was expressed Tuesday in a video showing Trump standing in a Guam cemetery of graves marked by white crosses. And, while Secretary Tillerson was recognizing NK's calmer attitude in recent days, a new United Nations report revealed that two North Korean shipments bound for Syria's chemical arms agency were recently "intercepted." An independent UN experts panel report obtained by Reuters on Monday revealed two shipments to the Syrian government agency responsible for the country's deadly chemical weapons program was intercepted. The report stated: "The panel is investigating reported prohibited chemical, ballistic missile and conventional arms cooperation between Syria and [North Korea]." The experts wrote the panel was informed there were "reasons to believe" the items were part of the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation contract, which was blacklisted in 2009 by the Security Council. The council said the trading corporation was North Korea's top arms dealer and an exporter of materials for ballistic missiles and conventional weapons. • But, even taking all this into account, Kim Jong-un can hear. We know that because President Trump's aggressive responses to Kim's demented threats backed Kim down. So, Monday evening, when Kim heard Trump say it is time for action in Afghanistan, he had to hear and get the message. Kim may be a bully, but like all bullies, he surely understands that if he goes too far, Trump will turn his attention to the Dear Leader, with strategies and a military ready to finish the job in North Korea as they are now preparing to finish the job in Afghanistan. • Godspeed, Secretary Mattis. God Bless you, President Trump.