RUSSIA TAKES THE LEAD IN SYRIA WHILE AFGHANISTAN WAR IS ‘WORSE THAN IT’S EVER BEEN,’ FORMER U.S. DEFENSE CHIEF SAYS

The U.S. has found itself in a worse position than ever in Afghanistan and has lost out to Russia and its allies in Syria, according to an ex-defense chief.

Chuck Hagel, who served as former President Barack Obama’s secretary of defense from 2013 to 2015, told Defense News on Wednesday that “at some point, we’re going to have to” leave Afghanistan, the longest conflict in U.S. history. Despite spending up to $1 trillion to help local Afghan forces battle the hard-line Islamist Taliban movement that sheltered Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden after 9/11, the U.S.-backed government has recently faced historic losses to insurgents.

“After 17 years in Afghanistan, the situation is worse than it’s ever been. I think the American people, the Congress, the United States are going to start asking some pretty good questions,” Hagel told the publication.

“The American military can’t fix the problems in Afghanistan. Poppy production, corruption, tribal decisions, topography. All the uncontrollables are there. You don’t fix that with the military,” he added.

Hagel said the U.S. and its international coalition had also lost control of the situation in Syria, where nearly seven years of civil war have fractured the country and international powers into shifting alliances. The U.S., along with Turkey and Arab Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, first backed insurgents trying to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The uprising soon became dominated by jihadi forces, however, and the U.S. switched support to Kurdish forces focused on battling the Islamic State militant group (ISIS). - More, Newsweek

Related: The U.S. Is losing badly in Afghanistan, but the Trump administration is telling Americans less - More

Ex-Defense Chief: U.S. Losing in Syria, Afghanistan

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