Trump Backs a Surge into Afghanistan He's Unfit to Lead

[babylonsister]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/trump-is-unfit-to-lead-a-surge-in-afghanistan/537561/

Trump Backs a Surge into Afghanistan He's Unfit to Lead

It’s not simply his reversal—it’s that his record suggests he lacks the consistency to stay the course he’s charted.


Conor Friedersdorf 8:01 AM ET Politics


Is the war in Afghanistan winnable? I fear not, under any commander in chief. I suspect withdrawal in the very near future would be the best course among a set of bad options.

If the U.S. is going to surge more troops into its longest war, however, doing so under Donald Trump is folly. And the brave men and women who volunteered for the U.S. military deserve better. It is hard to imagine a commander in chief less suited to succeed. That is partly due to his dearth of experience; partly due to the chaotic atmosphere he brings to the executive branch; partly due to the extreme divisions in our polity that he stokes and exacerbates; and partly due to his belief that it is okay to issue changes in military policy via Twitter before telling the Pentagon.

But the biggest reason Trump is unfit to command U.S. forces in Afghanistan is his repeated, public insistence that the war there is an idiotic waste, that we should withdraw, that the billions spent there would be better spent rebuilding our country, and that additional lives lost are lives wasted.

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But no American can be confident that Trump will provide steady leadership on matters of war. His initial instinct was withdrawal. And his behavior to date suggests that he usually reverts to instinct; that many now advising him will soon resign or be fired; that his attention will wander; that he may change course on an impulse at any moment, if only to show that he’s in charge, perhaps even tweeting that impulse before telling the Pentagon; and that even if he stays the course, he is likely to do more to rally Americans against Mika Brzezinski or The New York Times than the Taliban.

“This has been many months in the making,” Kellyanne Conway told The Washington Post. “The hallmark of leadership is a deliberative process, not an impulsive reaction, and that is precisely the protocol he followed here.” But winning a war requires a White House to sustain a deliberative process, and avoid impulsive mistakes, for many months or even years on end. When has Trump ever done that?

If Americans thought they were electing a president who would extend rather than end the Afghan war, it isn’t at all clear that they would’ve voted for Trump in the same numbers—not only because they are war weary, but because they know on some level that Trump is not the commander in chief you want when the nation is at war. All things considered, he is unusually unsuited to preside over a successful escalation. And if Trump fails for that reason, the loss of American soldiers will be on the hands of every member of Congress who quietly believes that he is unfit to be commander in chief—that his unfitness is likely to get more soldiers killed—but who says nothing and does nothing save hoping he resigns.

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. The last time he authorized a raid it truned into a bloody mess.

This can only get worse.