Is American Patience Running Out?

Above: U.S. Army in Afghanistan. Credit: U.S. Army

Shawn Snow, The Hill: Long wars and ugly nationalism test Americans' patience

Just before the NATO summit in Warsaw, President Obama announced a new Afghan policy to maintain 8,400 troops in Afghanistan through next year; a shift from a previous goal of reducing America’s effort in the war torn country to an embassy size protection force of 5,500 combat troops. The shift in strategy counters Obama’s promise of ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As he prepares to leave office America has re-entered the Iraq conflict with several thousand troops on the ground; maintained a force posture of over 8000 troops in Afghanistan with expanded rules of engagement that allow U.S. forces to target the Taliban; witnessed the entrance U.S. forces in Syria; and an ever increasing counter-terrorism operation in Africa. America’s wars are expanding with no end on the horizon and with that have come a hyper partisan atmosphere and a toxic election cycle.

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WNU Editor: I can sense this desire for change .... and not President Obama's "hope and change" mantra of the 2008 election cycle. And while Donald Trump is now viewed as a manifestation of this desire for change, the fact is that in many countries public opinion is shifting away from the status quo .... and a desire to have something different. The Brexit vote is Europe's wake-up call, the Middle East is now a different place (for better and for worse) since the start of the Arab Spring, and in Asia it is the rise of nationalism and growing boundary disputes that is dominating the news cycle. So yes .... many Americans are losing patience .... but so is much of the world.

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