(ANTIMEDIA) — Defense Secretary Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis told Congress on Tuesday that the United States is not winning the war in Afghanistan, Reuters reports.
The United States has been formally at war with (or within)
Afghanistan since 2001, with little to no tangible progress to show for
it. In that context, Mattis’ admission should hardly come as a surprise
to anyone who has been paying attention.
However, while Mattis spoke the truth about the non-existent success
of the war in Afghanistan, he followed up his statement with a dismal “[a]nd we will correct this as soon as possible.”
This proposed correction involves giving
Mattis complete authority to determine troop levels in the war-torn
country, something President Trump approved on Tuesday. It is believed
that Mattis will be looking to send several thousand more American
troops to Afghanistan, though the official number has not yet been
confirmed.
In a video published by the Washington Post,
Mattis was incredibly critical of restrictions imposed during the Obama
era, which he believes caused the ongoing failures in Afghanistan.
“I retired from military service three months after sequestration took effect,” Mr. Mattis, a former Marine general, told the House Armed Services Committee. “Four
years later, I returned to the department [of defense], and I have been
shocked by what I’ve seen about our readiness to fight … No enemy in
the field has done more to harm the readiness of our military than
sequestration.”
