Pentagon Sends 100 Troops To Protect What Could End Up Being The Last Straw In Obama’s Foreign Policy Legacy

On the eve of leaving office, Obama is about to lose the Afghan province he shifted resources from Iraq to secure.

The U.S. deployed 100 troops  Monday to stop the Taliban from seizing the capital city of Helmand province. A U.S. service-member was killed Tuesday by a roadside IED while patrolling the outskirts of the capital, Lashkar Gah. Hundreds of NATO troops died in Helmand province during the NATO combat mission in Afghanistan from 2001-2014, and it was the site of Obama’s first major foreign policy decision in 2010.

Obama’s senior advisors, including Army Gen. David Petraeus, told him the withdrawal announcement concurrent with the surge announcement would neuter the surge’s purpose. Helmand province is an ethnic sanctuary for the Taliban, and the U.S. deployed tens of thousands of troops to secure metropolitan area.

The Taliban simply headed across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and waited out the U.S. presence. In 2012, Obama followed through on his promise to drawdown forces, and he pivoted away from active U.S. engagement in Afghanistan towards a reduced presence that focused on drone strikes. In 2014, he ended the NATO combat mission in Afghanistan shifting U.S. policy towards supporting the Afghan defense forces.

After the 2014, Obama severely restricted U.S. rules of engagement in Afghanistan. Under his rules of engagement the U.S. was only allowed to intervene on behalf of the Afghan defense forces when it was about to suffer a particularly devastating military setback. As the Taliban made unprecedented gains and killed thousands of Afghan forces, Obama was forced to loosen the rules of engagement.

Obama’s new rules of engagement allow the U.S. to accompany Afghan forces when they’re offensively pursuing the Taliban to achieve a “strategic gain.” His change in  rules of engagement may have come too late to prevent the catastrophic loss of Helmand province.

The Afghan defense forces have withdrawn from every major city in Helmand province, except the capital of Lashkar Gah. The head of Helmand Province’s Council told reporters Aug. 9, “The Taliban are now controlling 80 percent of Helmand.” Lashkar Gah is completely surrounded by the Taliban and at risk of falling soon.

If the Taliban is able to capture Lashkar Gah, it will mark the second time since 2001 the Taliban have been able to seize a major Afghan city. In late September, 2015, the Taliban seized the Afghan city of Kunduz, marking one of its biggest battlefield achievements since the war began in 2001.