Obama's strategic mistake in Afghanistan has prolonged the war

Seattle Times:
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he argued against President Obama’s Afghanistan war strategy that set dates for the drawdown of U.S. troops. He supports a decision by President Donald Trump to end such timelines.

In an interview with The Seattle Times, Gates said the policy ‘basically told the Taliban how long they had to wait. I think it was a big mistake.’ He said that a decision by President Donald Trump to deploy more troops in an open-ended engagement could eventually prompt the Taliban to negotiate.

Gates’ comments offer a sharply different take than he expressed just two years ago in his 2014 memoir, “Duty.” That book offers an often harsh assessment of Obama but a resolute defense of the timeline policy that he helped to carry out as he sent troops off to war.
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Asked about the difference between the book’s account and his remarks to The Seattle Times, Gates said the book reflected his public policy statements while leading the Pentagon. “I think you defend things in public that you may disagree with in private,” Gates said.
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Gates appears to be paying the price for being a team player when he was in the Obama administration.  Telling the enemy when you are laving is a dumb strategic move and is more so when you are engaged in an insurgency where the enemy is playing for time.  The Taliban had been saying all along "You may have the watch, be we have the time."  Obama just told them how much time they had to wait and sure enough as the US drawdown started the Taliban increased their attacks on the Afghan forces.

Obama's narcissism wasted the lives of US troops in his surge because he wasted their effort by leaving before the enemy was defeated.

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