When will U.S. stop losing lives and wasting money in Afghanistan?

“Trump: U.S. must ‘fight to win,’ ” Aug. 22 news story.

Donald Trump has broken another campaign “promise,” announcing plans to ratchet up U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. This war has now lasted 16 years and has been estimated to cost over $2 trillion when the all related costs, including future medical costs for disabled veterans, are included. The cost comes to more than $50,000 for each and every American, just for Afghanistan.

The Russians wasted nine years and billions of rubles with their war in Afghanistan before they learned their lesson and withdrew.

America is hemorrhaging money. Thousands of Americans have been killed, and countless others have lost limbs and suffered other disabling injuries in Afghanistan. When will this madness cease?

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Sounding like a football coach at a high school pep rally, Donald Trump stated that our troops “must fight to win!” But a football coach has a simple goal: create a strategy to enable his team to score more points than the other team.

Trump did present a number of worthy goals, such as “crushing” al-Qaeda and “obliterating the Islamic State.” His strategy included increased troop numbers and working with the Afghans and NATO allies.

During the 16 years of our longest war, we have constantly worked with partners and have had troop strengths far greater than Trump suggested. So how is this “new” strategy going to succeed when the identical old one hasn’t?