Forever war

The American people deserve transparency about the mission in Afghanistan.

We’ve always been at war in Afghanistan.

At least that’s how things will seem to the next generation of American troops — the 14- and 15-year-old JROTC cadets, born after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, who may soon find themselves training Afghan military forces or fighting in the mountains of Kandahar.

In a televised address Monday night, President Donald Trump retreated from his years of calling for an end to a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and instead announced a “new strategy.”

There will be more soldiers, more military pressure on the Taliban and more international engagement with neighboring nations like Pakistan and India.

The specifics are intentionally vague, but officials have hinted that 3,900 more troops will be added to the 8,400 already in Afghanistan.

Whatever the final plan looks like, it is certainly an improvement over a bizarre scheme supported by former White House adviser Steve Bannon that involved outsourcing the war to private military contractors and mercenaries.

In fact, rhetoric aside, Trump’s overall strategy seems indistinguishable from the Obama administration or the Bush administration — and is probably what we would have seen under a President Hillary Clinton.

And it is not likely to bring about a quick victory — whatever that looks like. If President Barack Obama’s troop surge of more than 100,000 didn’t achieve a lasting peace in Afghanistan, it is hard to understand how 3,900 more lives at risk will end in a ticker-tape parade.

Meanwhile, the White House seems deeply unprepared for continuing our nation’s longest war. The Pentagon is missing key appointees — about 74 percent of top positions haven’t been filled. The State Department remains a hollow shell of its former self, and Trump has failed to nominate anyone as ambassador to India while the ambassador to Afghanistan still hasn’t been confirmed.

Before another taxpayer cent is spent, before another soldier is sent into harm’s way, the American people deserve to know what we’re trying to achieve and how we’re going to do it.

The United States has paid hundreds of billions of dollars, lost more than 2,000 service members and killed more than 100,000 Afghans. The trauma of war follows our troops back home in the form of post-traumatic stress, opioid addiction, unprecedented suicide levels and other mental health issues that our politicians have failed to adequately confront. Neither Democrats nor Republicans can describe what victory looks like.

Instead of bringing clarity, Trump’s speech — “America’s enemies must never know our plans or believe they can wait us out” — risks immersing the nation into a fog of war by keeping Americans themselves purposefully ignorant of the mission and means.

Congress must step up and shine a light on Afghanistan. This means auditing the Pentagon and holding hearings about our goals and timelines. Most important, Congress must write a replacement for the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force enacted after 9/11.

Osama bin Laden has been killed and al-Qaida has largely been crushed. Memories of the worst terrorist attack on our shores remains a cause for mourning, but it cannot be used to justify a forever war.

“This entire effort is intended to put pressure on the Taliban,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters after Trump’s speech. “To have the Taliban understand you will not win a battlefield victory — we may not win one, but neither will you.”

We have a word for that: quagmire.

Rhetoric aside, Trump’s overall strategy seems indistinguishable from the Obama administration or the Bush administration.