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Special guest Rick Berger joins Bryan and Chris for a discussion of the U.S. war in Afghanistan and the state of civil-military relations. The post-9/11 mission expanded from counterterrorism to nation-building, but this occurred, according to CSIS’s Mark Cancian, without a serious “discussion about the relationship between the desired end state and the military effort required to reach it.” Bryan, Rick, and Chris disagree on whether that’s actually true — and whether it matters. Bryan gives kudos to National Review’s Kevin Williamson for making the case for independent thinking, Chris knocks CNN and the Democratic debaters for spending too little time on foreign policy, and Rick praises newly installed Secretary of Defense Mark Esper for his plan to beef up conventional deterrence in the Asia-Pacific.

Links

• Mark F. Cancian, “Tell Me How This Ends: Military Advice, Strategic Goals, and the “Forever War” in Afghanistan,” CSIS, July 10, 2019
• Caroline Dorminey and Eric Gomez, “America’s Nuclear Crossroads: A Forward-Looking Anthology,” CATO Institute
• Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Julian E. Barnes, “US Military Calls ISIS in Afghanistan a Threat to the West. Intelligence Officials Disagree,” New York Times, August 2, 2019
• Felix Tam and Anne Marie Roantree, “Trump Says It’s Up to China to Deal with Hong Kong Riots,” Reuters, August 2, 2019
• “Interview with Kevin Williamson,” C-Span, July 19, 2019
• Max Boot, “The Case for American Empire,” The Weekly Standard, October 15, 2001
• Justin Logan and Christopher Preble, “Fatal Conceit,” National Review, August 12, 2010
• Fred Kaplan, “Five Minutes to Explain the World,” Slate, August 1, 2019
• “Funding for Overseas Contingency Operations and its Impact on Defense Spending,” Congressional Budget Office, October 2018
• Rick Berger, “Why Withdrawing from Syria and Afghanistan Won’t Save Much Money,” Defense One, February 26, 2019