From San Francisco Bay World Can't Wait | Original Article

Thousands more Marines are being deployed to "reinforce advisory activities" (we know what that means; think Vietnam) in Afghanistan

Before he sends up to 4,000 more troops to Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wants to know how many troops are currently on the ground. Whatever that number (how can he not know?), the human toll on Afghan civilians increases daily. Women and children casualties saw a sharp increase in the first six months of 2017, reports Aria Bendix to The Atlantic. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) cites a total of 1,662 civilian deaths between January 1 and June 30, a two percent increase over last year's record high.

President Trump's "new" Afghanistan war strategy does not define what victory would look like, or how his path would be different from the strategy of previous presidents: a mix of conventional military force and diplomatic pressure on Pakistan. "More boots on the ground is serving the long-term global strategy of the U.S. by victimizing and marginalizing the Afghan ordinary people," reads a dispatch from onebillionrising.org. "[U.S.] presence in Afghanistan is not for human rights and liberation, rather to use the geo-strategic position of Afghanistan against its global and regional rivals."




Boundaries of the Kabul Green Zone redrawn to encompass Western embassies, government ministries, and NATO headquarters

The Pentagon's Kabul Security Zone (map) confirms U.S. plans to stay put, long term; the huge public works project is likely to keep the military in place well into the 2020s, even by the most conservative estimates.