President Donald Trump has expressed frustrations regarding the war in Afghanistan, and recently suggested firing the war’s top military commander, NBC News reported.
In a meeting last month, Trump told senior administration officials “we aren’t winning. We are losing.”
By most measures, the president is correct.
The nearly 16 year long war — the longest in US history — has resulted in 2,216 American deaths and cost taxpayers an estimated $714 billion.
Meanwhile, the U.S. backed Afghan government controls less than 60 percent of the country, according to a report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan reconstruction, a government watchdog group.
The Taliban maintains a strong hold over much of the other territory.