I have to disagree with both of you. It was Pres. Trump who abandoned Afghanistan. Among other things, he set a capricious date for complete US military withdrawal. The Biden administration implemented that abandonment.
As I see the current situation, the US has lost patience with the IDF's effort in Gaza & has little faith that an IDF foray into in Lebanon would be successful.
The decline of Israeli military power - owing much to its feckless senior leadership (but for other reasons as well) - is staggering. Condi Rice also was underwhelmed by the IDF in 2006 believing their best days were behind them. This does not bode well for Israeli diplomatic efforts with moderate Sunni allies who are counting on the IDF to offer a credible military counter weight to the burgeoning military power of Iran.
The problems with the IDF stem from its leadership buying lock, stock and barrel US theories of war, society and morality. On the division level and below the officer corps has not yet been poisoned by the woke US military. Those days are over. The current General Staff is the last woke general staff.
The US losing patience with the IDF is so much hutzpa as to be laughable. Had Biden-Blinken and the US military actually backed Israeli moves and not vetoed its plans time and again, this would have been over months ago. Even now in Rafah - Israel had to halve its forces !!!!! - so as to satisfy US demands. And even the forces that are in are handcuffed by arms embargoes and a limit on air power - ALL due to US policy.
As for Condi Rice - she was right regarding Lebanon 2 - but that part of the army has changed radically - and for the better. The incredible successes of the troops on the ground in Gaza has never been done before.
Without US interference (and a woke General Staff that blindly follows US dictates - and dictates they are) you would see a different situation on Gaza.
As for Afghanistan - it is hard for me to believe that Trump would have gone ahead with the withdrawal in the same shameless way that Biden did.
And at this point, under this administration, we can’t even assume that US interests don’t align with “terrorists and dictators.”
The era of Biden (which really began with Obama) is Atlas Shrugged: foreign policy edition.
Biden’s signature moment was his disgraceful abandonment of Afghanistan
It was the moment that ought to have predicted for us all his future foreign policy actions.
I have to disagree with both of you. It was Pres. Trump who abandoned Afghanistan. Among other things, he set a capricious date for complete US military withdrawal. The Biden administration implemented that abandonment.
As I see the current situation, the US has lost patience with the IDF's effort in Gaza & has little faith that an IDF foray into in Lebanon would be successful.
The decline of Israeli military power - owing much to its feckless senior leadership (but for other reasons as well) - is staggering. Condi Rice also was underwhelmed by the IDF in 2006 believing their best days were behind them. This does not bode well for Israeli diplomatic efforts with moderate Sunni allies who are counting on the IDF to offer a credible military counter weight to the burgeoning military power of Iran.
The problems with the IDF stem from its leadership buying lock, stock and barrel US theories of war, society and morality. On the division level and below the officer corps has not yet been poisoned by the woke US military. Those days are over. The current General Staff is the last woke general staff.
The US losing patience with the IDF is so much hutzpa as to be laughable. Had Biden-Blinken and the US military actually backed Israeli moves and not vetoed its plans time and again, this would have been over months ago. Even now in Rafah - Israel had to halve its forces !!!!! - so as to satisfy US demands. And even the forces that are in are handcuffed by arms embargoes and a limit on air power - ALL due to US policy.
As for Condi Rice - she was right regarding Lebanon 2 - but that part of the army has changed radically - and for the better. The incredible successes of the troops on the ground in Gaza has never been done before.
Without US interference (and a woke General Staff that blindly follows US dictates - and dictates they are) you would see a different situation on Gaza.
As for Afghanistan - it is hard for me to believe that Trump would have gone ahead with the withdrawal in the same shameless way that Biden did.