The president’s original idea of keeping 1,000 troops in the Central Asian nation was largely rejected by his opposition, US military leaders, and the Afghan government. Recently demonstrated by the Taliban assault and 15 day hold on the city of Kunduz, Afghan troops still struggle to maintain a hold on their country.
For its part, the Taliban will maintain their insurgency until they can reach some sort of political accord that allows for their continued existence. Unfortunately, the Taliban suffers from fragmentation, and each different segment seemingly has diverse ideas of how any political settlement, or even talks for that matter, should proceed.
Elsewhere, the US military is expanding its presence in Africa by sending 300 service members to Cameroon to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) support to Nigerian forces battling Boko Haram. The US military has been engaged in West Africa for some time with military operations in Niger, Mali, Algeria, and Mauritania just to name a few.
