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Afghanistan: Can a Troop Surge Stop Daesh?

Afghanistan: Can A Troop Surge Stop Daesh?
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Our final topic, picked by you, dear listeners, earlier in a poll on our Facebook page, is “Afghanistan: Can A Troop Surge Stop Daesh?”, focusing on the US’ possible war plans.

Reports indicate that the US is considering a mild surge of 4000 soldiers to Afghanistan following Daesh's recent gains in the country.

The international terrorist group has slowly but surely become a force to be reckoned with in the landlocked state, having begun to clandestinely infiltrate it a few years ago and relying on Taliban ‘defectors’ to gain strength.

Daesh proved its military prowess by capturing the infamous Tora Bora mountain complex from the Taliban last week, gaining access to the labyrinthine network of caves built by the CIA during the 1980s which at one time even housed Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden. Both the symbolism and the military significance behind this move can’t be overstated, which leaves one wondering why Trump didn’t order the military to drop the so-called “Mother Of All Bombs” on the cave complex in order to prevent this from happening,and is instead sending only 4000 extra troops to deal with this and other contingencies.

It’s strange because the President ordered the dramatic use of the most powerful conventional weapon ever employed in combat earlier this spring, though it was thought by many to have been more of a political message to the US’ Great Power rivals than any game-changing battlefield development at the time. Moreover, Trump announced shortly thereafter that “We have the greatest military in the world, and they've done the job as usual, so we have given them total authorization, and that's what they're doing”, though this same fully empowered military both decided against using the “Mother Of All Bombs” against Daesh in Tora Bora and is somehow content with only sending a miniscule 4000 extra troops to Afghanistan. It’s questionable whether such a small increase will be sufficient to stop Daesh, let alone the Taliban, who by many reports control and influence over half of the country.

While the Taliban expand their gains in the country, the threat from Daesh grows, and Kabul’s authority shrinks, Afghanistan appears to be on the precipice of a major conflict escalation once more, with the consequences expected to reverberate all throughout the interconnected South-Central Asian space. Amidst this tense situation, it might only take a mild surge of 4000 US troops to spark a new conflagration.

Andrew is joined by Syed Ali Zia Jaffery, Research Analyst at the Global Village Space, who focuses on strategic affairs of the South Asian region and counter terrorism and Shaukat Qadir, Former Pakistani soldier and distinguished faculty at the National Defence University in Islamabad.

We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com

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