Although Trump plans on withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, he is probably considering using private contractors which is a recipe for more corruption and violence, Iraq and Afghanistan veteran Will Griffin told RT.
The US is planning to reduce its troop presence in Afghanistan after 17 years of its war in that country. President Donald Trump has reportedly ordered the withdrawal of over 5,000 of the 14,000-strong US contingent.
Griffin, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran and the director of the Peace Report, told RT that, although reducing the number of troops is a good thing, he is skeptical of what is to come.
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“Lets keep in mind that with Trump announcing the reduction of half of the troops in Afghanistan, the bombs will most likely continue, the war will most likely continue,” he said.
Griffin also suggested that it cant be ruled out that Trump might be considering using private contractors.
“People like Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater and who is now pushing the idea of minimizing US troops in Afghanistan and using more private contractors.”
According to Griffin, this is a recipe for more corruption and more violence. And the latter, in his view, has mainly been driven by US military operations in Afghanistan.
“We have to understand that the analysis of the situation is that the US military, and really the presence of the US overall in Afghanistan, is a number one driver of violence, it is a number one recruitment tool for extremist organizations. And it is the number one cause of the veteran suicides here at home [the US.],” he pointed out.
“The reducing of [the] amount of troops, although it is a good thing, you have to keep in mind what does Trump have under his sleeve,” Griffin noted.
At the same time Griffin called it a symbolic gesture to the Afghan Taliban.
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He recalled that the Taliban and US officials met in the United Arab Emirates on December 17-18. The focus of the talks was on the withdrawal of foreign troops.
“In these peace talks we have to understand that the troops may be withdrawn and reduced, but the fighting will most likely continue. I am very skeptical of whats to come,” said Griffin.
“The US officials and generals always keep saying that this war has reached the stalemate because they will never admit that this war has already been lost. When the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban consisted of 200 to 400 members… Today, that organization has splintered into several different organizations across continents in the numbers of tens of thousands,” he explained.
Griffin dubbed US war in Afghanistan a complete and utter failure.
“The Pentagon, the White House and Trump will never admit that, they would call it things like a stalemate. And now they are going look at private contractors to try to save this war. And go under the radar of the media, so that Americans dont realize that this has been a defeat,” he said.
He suggested that Americans in general are tired of this war, adding that “every candidate, every campaign election people have run on anti-war slogans but we have yet to end this war. But it really expanded, costing more tax dollars to the American people.”
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