{"id":43963,"date":"2020-03-19T14:59:46","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T14:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/03\/19\/espers-dark-vision-for-us-china-conflict-makes-war-more-likely\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:05:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:05:18","slug":"espers-dark-vision-for-us-china-conflict-makes-war-more-likely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2020\/03\/19\/espers-dark-vision-for-us-china-conflict-makes-war-more-likely\/","title":{"rendered":"Esper\u2019s dark vision for US-China conflict makes war more likely"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Trump administration\u2019s deal with the Taliban may not successfully bring our war in Afghanistan to a close<\/a>. Some number of U.S. forces will remain on open-ended counterterrorism missions, their presence in harm\u2019s way creating a constant risk of escalation, and a lot could change in the \u201cmany months\u201d that Defense Secretary Mark Esper says it will take to complete the U.S. drawdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the deal is welcome news and could be the beginning of the end of the longest conflict in U.S. history. American troops who have seen three, four, even five or more<\/a> deployments to the Middle East may finally be able to come home \u2014 or not. If Esper\u2019s grim vision becomes reality, they may soon be fighting China instead, embarking on a new and far larger conflict that would make Afghanistan look like child\u2019s play, put U.S. security in unnecessary danger and plunge the world into lasting turmoil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would like to [reduce troop levels in Afghanistan] because what I want to do is reallocate forces to\u201d the Asia-Pacific region, Esper said<\/a> while the U.S.-Taliban agreement was under negotiation. \u201cAll of these places where I can free up troops where I could either bring them home to allow them to rest and refit and retrain or\/and then reallocate them [to the Asia-Pacific region] to compete with the Chinese, to reassure our allies, to conduct exercises and training.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defense secretary also has been conducting a \u201cblank slate review\u201d of U.S. force levels in Africa to the same end, \u201cpredominantly to reduce presence\u201d there, he said, so the Pentagon can train its sights on China. And the Air Force described a flight by a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber over Somalia in February as, in part, a warning to China of engagement to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\t