Thread by @stephenfhayes

A bracing assessment of the war in Afghanistan from, @thomasjoscelyn, an analyst who is a master of the subject.
weeklystandard.com/thomas-joscely…

Is there a better summary of the current state of things than this lede? "President Donald Trump opposes his own policy in Afghanistan. It shows."
weeklystandard.com/thomas-joscely…

"There has been no effective military effort. The promises to furnish our warfighters with the tools they need to win—and a plan for victory—have gone unfulfilled. We are once again fighting not to lose. But we’re losing anyway."
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"One year after the president’s announcement of a new Afghanistan policy, it’s increasingly clear that the current approach to Afghanistan isn’t a radical departure from Obama’s but mostly a continuation of it."
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The detailed history of Obama's diplomatic failures in Afghanistan provided here is the just devastating. Self-delusion and public relations masquerading as policy.
weeklystandard.com/thomas-joscely…

The Clinton State Department's main liaison for "peace" talks, Tayib Agha, was, unbeknownst to the Obama team, simultaneously communicating with al Qaeda leadership.
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Documents captured in the raid on bin Laden's compound show that his same Taliban official "raised money for al Qaeda. The records show a transfer of proceeds from a donor (presumably in the Gulf) through Agha and into al Qaeda’s coffers."
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"It’s no wonder the Obama administration and its allies in the intelligence bureaucracy fought hard to keep the [bin Laden] files from public view."
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"The Obama administration’s attempts to negotiate with the Taliban will be remembered as among the most embarrassing episodes in the history of American diplomacy. So why is the Trump administration going down the same path?"
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"The Taliban can only view the Trump administration’s attempts to negotiate as further evidence that the president’s patience is running out."
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The "realists" of the Trump administration are engaged in the same kind of wishful thinking and self-delusion that led to the failure of Obama's efforts in Afghanistan. We should expect the same result.
weeklystandard.com/thomas-joscely…