In a story that got very little US press, it was revealed (barely) that the costs of conducting the US’s war in Afghanistan have skyrocketed due to transportation cost increases. The skyrocketing costs are due to Pakistan’s blockade of truck traffic carrying heavy supplies overland to Afghanistan from seaports on Pakistan’s Indian Ocean coast. As earlier posts to this blog documented, Pakistan (enraged by sometimes wayward and lethal US air attacks which kill Pakistani civilians or soldiers) has cut off the right of the USA to transit its territory with truck cargoes destined for US troops in Afghanistan. As also documented in a recent post, Pakistan has kicked out the CIA from its “secret” base in Pakistan from which it was operating drone flights. Pakistan is edging closer to an open breach with the USA. When it does, I expect it will openly embrace China as its major ally.
The USA Today had a very brief story about the skyrocketing US transportation costs to supply its Afghan troops (see first link), but the Navy Times had a longer story on the subject (see second link). Due to the Pakistani cutoff of its overland routes, the US must now send supplies via a circuitous and costly northern route into Pakistan from ports on the Baltic and Caspian Seas, increasing monthly transportation costs from $17 million $104 million. What is also most dangerous for US troops in Afghanistan is that this northern route is controlled by nations which were once part of the Soviet Union and still exist in Russia’s sphere of influence. Whenever Russia decides to shut down the USA’s northern route into Afghanistan, the Afghan war will effectively be over, especially if Pakistan continues to refuse to allow its soil to be traversed by truck traffic with supplies for US troops.
I’m sure readers have seen media reports that the US military, under Obama’s administration, is going to substantially cut the strength of the US Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force. At a time when American military forces are going to be significantly weakened due to lack of funds, does it make sense to continue to spend any more money trying to “nation build” Afghanistan into a democracy? No. The USA must see to its own defenses, and it can help itself by ending the Afghan War and allocating all its costs to making smaller cuts in US military forces.
Some NATO nations had small forces in Afghanistan, but France has seen the light that the end is near for the Afghan war. The third link reports that the French will withdraw their forces by the end of 2013, a year earlier than originally planned. The report cites “widespread fatigue” among NATO nations in continuing the seemingly endless war in Afghanistan. The final link adds that even the Obama administration is beginning to see the light that the Afghan war is an albatross around its neck as it is accelerating the disengagement of the US role from combat operations to perhaps as early as mid 2013.
I have repeatedly noted in this blog that the Afghan War is draining US funds, wearing out US soldiers and equipment and exhausting the military when there is no apparent strategic purpose for continuing this war any further. Given the possibility of a war between Israel and Iran breaking out, the position of all US forces in Afghanistan has become very tenuous and exposed. The US forces in Afghanistan have NO friendly nation bordering them in Afghanistan, they have NO secure line of supply and NO secure line of retreat. If a war breaks out involving Israel and Iran, it is almost certainly going to drag the US into the war as Iran has threatened to attack US forces in the region and try to blockade the Straits of Hormuz (cutting off a large percentage of global oil supplies). If such a war occurs, the US has stated categorically it will use military force to keep those Straits open, which obviously means war between Iran and the USA. Iran could easily fire salvoes of cruise missiles at all US bases in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf and even send several army or Revolutionary Guard divisions to launch a frontal attack in concert with Taliban forces against US bases in Afghanistan. US forces in Afghanistan are facing ever higher risks of being cut off from friendly bases and support as time goes by. It is possible that Pakistan will accept higher bribe money (excuse me, the US State Dept. would likely prefer to call this “foreign aid”) to allow truck supplies to again reach US forces in Afghanistan, but the days of Pakistan’s cooperation in this war are now numbered, given the growing hostility between the USA and Pakistan. With “allies” like Pakistan in the region, the USA doesn’t need any enemies, although many exist.
This all fits the Ezekiel 38-39 prophecy very well. The US is weakening its military and exhausting it in Central Asia when it should be strengthening its own military to defend the US homeland itself because Ezekiel 38-39 warns the home nations of the western world will eventually be attacked and invaded by the Gog-Magog nations. The Gog-Magog alliance of Russia, China, Iran and their allies (which will include Pakistan) are building and deploying ever more modern weapons systems to prepare themselves to fulfill their prophesied role. The leaders of the western nations, having forsaken the Bible of the God who gave them their national greatnesses, are clueless as to what the future holds so they make one bad decision after another.
