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Keller @ Large: Is Doubling Down The Best We Can Do In Afghanistan?

BOSTON (CBS) - More war in Afghanistan, and most likely more of our troops in harm's way?

Really?

Yes, really.

I sense a pattern – presidents get elected in part on a promise to wind down US involvement in that God-forsaken place, then once in office, they not only don't get us out, but they escalate our involvement.

Obama, Trump, it makes no difference.

Why?

Our military leaders seem to believe pretty strongly that we can't get out, that to do so would allow terror groups to multiply unchecked and, ultimately, attack us and our allies. It'll be another debacle like Iraq after we pulled out of there, easy pickings for Daesh, Al-Qaeda, or other collections of murderous swine, destabilizing a crucial region even more than it currently is, they say.

I find that a little hard to believe, given how the number of Islamic extremist groups has soared since we began our involvement in Afghanistan in 2001, along with the volume of worldwide terror attacks.

One hundred thousand troops or less than 15,000, it doesn't seem to matter all that much. And no matter what we do to train the locals to take over, they don't ever seem to be up to the job.

afghanistan
The dignified transfer ceremony for Sgt. Jonathon Michael Hunter and Spc. Christopher Michael Harris at Dover Air Force Base August 4, 2017. Both died when a car bomb detonated near their convoy in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Thousands of American lives lost, trillions in dollars spent, and yes, the Taliban's control is down to about nine percent of the country. You've got to hunker down for the long haul, they claim, the way we have with our military presence in Europe and Asia.

I guess if Obama and Trump come to the same conclusion after both campaigning to get out, there's nothing much we can do about it.

Still, you wonder – is doubling down on a nightmare really the most creative policy we can come up with?

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