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US DEFENCE Secretary Jim Mattis flew into the Afghan capital Kabul yesterday, voicing Washington’s constant refrain that victory is possible while redefining what it might look like.
“We do look toward a victory in Afghanistan. Not a military victory: the victory will be a political reconciliation,” he said, hoping to involve the Taliban in a deal with the increasingly beleaguered Kabul government.
Mr Mattis, who commanded US troops in southern Afghanistan during the 2001 US-led invasion, said getting the Taliban to reconcile en masse may be “a bridge too far,” so the plan was to draw them in piecemeal.
The US president’s adventurism in Iran began as a display of overwhelming force but has swiftly become a lesson in over-reach, says ANDREW MURRAY
Washington’s response to a downed jet shows a superpower still reaching for overwhelming force even as its wars repeatedly fail, says NICK WRIGHT
Outrage greeted Donald Trump’s suggestion earlier this year that Britain stayed off the front lines. But evidence suggests our forces were at times pulled from the most dangerous fighting — not by military failure, but by pressure at home, says IAN SINCLAIR
CJ ATKINS commemorates one of the most dramatic moments in working-class history