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Donald Trump missed the opportunity to become a General Patton-style military commander and glorious war hero back in the Vietnam era. He surely wouldhave been the greatest ever in history!

But he says, alas, some unspecified foot problem (or something or other) kept him from the privilege of actually having the chance togo fight in that war. Bad luck, Im sure. But now that the Donald is thecommander in chief, his inner warrior has been given a second chance to bloom, and this time hes fully enlisted. In recent weeks, President Trump has escalateda running war of words against Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, bombed the European leaders of NATO with explosive charges that theyre unworthy of his support, launched a fierce new barrage of tough rhetoric in his extralegal offensive to ban all travel to the U.S. by anyone from six Muslim nations, and opened an entirely new battlefront by attacking the mayor of London with one of his Twitter missiles.

In last years presidential campaign, Trump declared with typical modesty,Theres nobody bigger or better at the military than I am. Well, Im certainly no expert on war, but if a president is going to pick a mess of foreign fights, wouldnt it be better strategically speaking to pick on actual enemies rather than on Americas allies? After all, there might come a time when we need friends to stand with us.

In a twist of historic irony, it looks like Trump and his military team might need those European allies sooner than they figured. Trumps national security chief and the Pentagon are pushing a new strategy for Americas long and horribly messy war but it depends on our NATO allies sending some of their troops into the fight. Oops, how awkward for the impetuous tweeter in chief.

President Trump might have dodged military service in his youth, but he certainly is bellicose, likes to issue commands and is constantly firing off militant tweets at anyone he perceives to be an enemy.

Now he and his White House full of military commanders are pondering the launchof a real shooting war. Actually, he would be attempting to achieve battlefield glory by picking up and extending what at first was George Bushs war, then Barack Obamas war. The place is Afghanistan, and the strategy is to shove more American soldiers (none of whomwill be named Trump) into that brutish, interminable hellhole.

Yes, that mess is still boiling, despite President Barack Obamas pledge to end U.S. involvement by 2012. After 16 years, after more than 2,000 Americans have been killed and 20,000 others maimed, after more than $800 billion has been shoveled into it, 8,400 of our troops are still there, the killing continues and we taxpayers keep pumping billions of dollars into the insanity. For all of that, the Taliban forces weve been trying to defeat are stronger than ever, al-Qaida and the Islamic State have gained strength and the Afghan government were supporting is corrupt, inept and despised.

Nonetheless, Trump is violating a basic rule of civilian control of the military: Never ask the generals if they need more resources. This president has surrounded himself with generals and surrendered crucial decision-making authority to them. What can a mini-surge of 5,000 more soldiers do besides assure more U.S. casualties? We werent able to win in Afghanistan when 100,000 of our troops were there, so what do we win by this so-called strategy?

Rep. Walter Jones, a Republican of North Carolina, has introduced a nonpartisan bill to defund Trumps war in Afghanistan. It is co-sponsored by members of both parties. It will be up to House Speaker Paul Ryan to bring up the bill for a vote. If Trump cant tell us why his new strategy will work, we should tell him no. Call Speaker Ryan and tell him to bring up House of Representatives 1666 for a vote. And call your representatives and tell them to defund Trumps war in Afghanistan.

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Our bellicose president wants to continue a 16-year quagmire in Afghanistan - Salon

OTTAWA -- Canada is considering a NATO request to send police trainers to Afghanistan, three years after the military mission officially ended, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says.

The request came from the U.S. through NATO, and could involve either civilian police trainers like the RCMP, or military trainers working with Afghan police, a defence official added.

Sajjan says Canada is "looking at all aspects of support" for Afghanistan -- though he ruled out the country as a destination for Canadian peacekeepers since it's not a UN mission.

"We've actually had an ask, but it was for police trainers in Afghanistan," Sajjan said in an interview with Evan Solomon, host of CTV's Question Period.

"We are actually still committed to Afghanistan. We've provided the funding, whether it's for development" or salaries for security forces in the country, he said.

From 2014 to 2017, Canada committed $227 million in international development programs in Afghanistan, and $330 million from 2015 to 2018 in support for the Afghan National Security Forces, which include the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police.

Sajjan says Canada can't look at any country in isolation.

"This is what coalitions are for, multilateralism is for. I'm in constant discussions with my counterparts on all the various threats, whether it's at NATO or the counter-DAESH meetings," he said, using another name for the Islamic State.

"We will always look at the various requests, but the thing is when we have the discussions, it's not about just one nation ... stepping up and saying, 'I'll do this.' It's about working together."

Peacekeeping mission 'on the table'

Last August, Sajjan announced Canada would devote 600 troops and $450 million over three years to a peacekeeping mission. He later toured several African countries and said he would announce the mission by the end of the year, but six months into 2017 there is still no word on where it will be.

A mission somewhere in the world "is on the table. We're committed to peace support operations," Sajjan said, citing a change in leadership at the UN and the new president of the U.S. as reasons for the delay.

"I've had discussions with [the UN], things looked very good... It's not about just sending troops. How can we now look at the current environment and bring our unique skillset to the table?"

While Sajjan ruled out Afghanistan as a peacekeeping destination, Richard Fadden, a former top civil servant at the Department of National Defence and former national security adviser to the prime minister, says having shed blood and spent a great deal of money on the country, it would make sense to return.

"Afghanistan has deteriorated quite a bit over the last few years," he said.

"I think if we were going anywhere to make a contribution, broadly speaking, to peace in the world, Afghanistan would be a good place to go. There are not that many other places where we could make a difference that would not result in ... our being involved in a massive quagmire."

Retired Gen. Tom Lawson, a former chief of the defence staff, says he prefers Afghanistan to some of the African countries Canada could end up, like Mali or the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both would carry significant risks for Canadian Armed Forces personnel.

"If it keeps us out of other places, [like] in Africa, I'd be delighted as a former chief of defence," Lawson told Solomon.

"So Afghanistan is a place that Canadians have invested both money and blood. We continue to invest money there. If a return was in Canadian defence future, it would be to a familiar zone."

Over the 12-year mission, 158 Canadian troops were killed, as well as a diplomat, a journalist and two civilian contractors, according to a tally by The Canadian Press.

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NATO wants Canadians back in Afghanistan: Sajjan - CTV News

External Affairs In aclear articulation of a new Afghan policy, James Mattis and Rex Tillerson have virtually ruled out any political settlement with the Taliban.

US defence secretary James Mattis (left) and secretary of state Rex Tillerson. Credit: Reuters

Washington: The Trump administration appears to be inching towards a clear commitment to Afghanistan devoid of deadlines and fuzziness a development that will be welcomed both in Kabul and New Delhi.

US defence secretary James Mattis and secretary of state Rex Tillerson laid out the broad contours of the new policy, virtually ruling out a political settlement with the Taliban. It was the clearest articulation so far of the trajectory Washington intends to follow.

If the policy review currently underway sustains this line of thinking, it would be a definite break from the Obama administrations policy of promoting a peace process with the Taliban in the belief that a military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan was impossible.

This line of thinking was also promoted by Pakistan, which has harboured the Taliban leadership over the years to serve its own ends and not the cause of peace, according to independent analysts.

But it now appears senior officials in the Trump administration want to end what the top US commander in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, described as a stalemate in testimony beforethe US Congress in February.

Speaking in Sydney at the annual US-Australia inter-ministerial dialogue, Mattis described the bottom line in Afghanistan in these words: We are not going to surrender civilisation to people who cannot win at the ballot box.

Tillerson, standing by his side, added, what we do understand is we can never allow Afghanistan to become a platform for terrorism and the US commitment is to ensure that it never becomes a safe haven for terrorists to launch attacks against the civilised world or against any other part of the world or any of their neighbours.

Casting the Taliban as uncivilised by implication is in itself a shift because USstate department diplomats and their contractors have been at pains not to describe them in pejorative terms. Certain Taliban leaders were never put on the UN terror list in the hope that they would come to the negotiating table.

Several years on, however, the peace process hasnt materialised. US analysts believe Pakistan has been leading Washingtondown a garden path for years, claiming at times the Taliban leaders dont live there, when they clearly do, and at others pretending it has no control over them this, even as it organises and oversees the leadership succession of the Quetta Shura.

But now indications are that Washington may be shifting gears.

The strong statements from the two top Trump officials came as Kabul was recovering from one of the worst terrorist attacks in the heavily guarded diplomatic enclave, which claimed 150 lives. Afghan officials said the May 31 attack was carried out by the Haqqani network with help from Pakistans intelligence service, the ISI.

On March 8, terrorists had targeted a military hospital in Kabul, killing 49 people in an attack lasting hours. Although the Islamic State claimed the attack, Afghan officials believe it was the Haqqanis. General Nicholson called it an unspeakable crime.

The upsurge in attacks on Afghans has lent an element of urgency to the ongoing war. Nicholson has argued for more US troops and it appears that Mattis, a retired general who was commander of CENTCOMin the Obama administration, may be listening.

Mattis said in Sydney the US was up against an enemy that knows they cannot win at the ballot box thats why they use bombs, because ballots would ensure they never had a role to play. He promised to stand by the Afghan people.

As Mattis and Tillerson were in Australia, their deputies, Lisa Curtis and Laura Miller, were returning from Kabul after meeting President Ashraf Ghani, a leader stuck between the impossible tribal politics of his country and relentless bloodletting by terrorists.

Ghani sent out a series of emotional tweets on June 6, including one in which he wondered about Pakistans motives. Our challenge is that we cannot figure out what is it that PAK wants. What will it take to convince PAK that a stable #AFG helps them?

Mohammad Taqi, a Pakistani American analyst who knows Afghanistan well, called the statement by Mattis a tectonic shift in US policy of the last 16 years. Stalemate is not just in the battle theatre but also in the policy arena. Pakistan has effectively held the US to a draw in Afghanistan, he said at the Hudson Institute on Tuesday.

It is time to stare reality in the face and stop tolerating Pakistans duplicitous policy as the Obama administration did, Taqi said. Taliban, Haqqanis, al-Qaeda, ISIS are fifty shades of jihadist grey. And none is amenable to a political solution.

The US has to recognise that Pakistans strategic calculus sees Afghanistan as a client state. The rest is feigned paranoia, especially its claims about being squeezed from sides India from the east and Afghanistan from the west.

He urged the US not to appease Pakistan because no amount of Fulbright scholarships or rotations at CENTCOM will change Rawalpindis security paradigm.

US policy must reflect that Afghan lives matter, said Taqi.

Seema Sirohi is a Washington DC-based commentator.

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Strong Words from James Mattis on Afghanistan, But Will They Hold? - The Wire

About 50 motorcyclists took part in the seventh annual Memorial Ride for the Fallen, traveling from Vancouver to the Langley memorial and the Highway of Heroes. Dan Ferguson Langley Times

Close to 50 riders took part in the seventh annual Memorial Ride for the Fallen to honour Canadas fallen soldiers in Afghanistan, traveling from Vancouver to Langleys Afghanistan Memorial Monument, the Walk to Remember.

Canadian flags lined the walkway of the memorial at Derek Doubleday Arboretum, which contains the names of each of the 158 Canadian troops killed in Afghanistan, and a tree has been planted in memory of each of them.

Its a way of showing that we havent forgotten the sacrifices of their loved ones while they were serving our country, organizer Barry Brutus Drews said .

I just thought it was the right thing to do.

Drews is a member of the 3rd Canadian Army Veterans (CAV) ROME unit, which was responsible for having a portion of Highway 1 in Langley designated the Highway of Heroes in 2011.

The movement spread across the country with the last dedication taking place in Newfoundland and Labrador last fall.

Now, every province has one.

Five Silver Cross families laid wreaths at the memorial.

The Silver Cross or Memorial Cross is awarded to the next of kin of Canadian soldiers who died on active duty or whose death was consequently attributed to such duty.

The crosses were sent automatically to mothers and wives who qualified, and could be worn by the recipients anytime, even though they were not themselves veterans. The cross was engraved with the name, rank and service number of the son or husband.

One of the Silver Cross mothers at the Langley event, Sheila Fynes from Victoria, rode to the event as a passenger on a motorcycle to remember her son, Cpl. Stuart Langridge.

We dont own a motorbike, she said.

I look around at these men and women and they just have such pure hearts and are so full of respect. This means everything for me.

Langridge, 28, was found dead in his Edmonton barracks in 2008.

Two years later, the Afghanistan war veteran was given the Sacrifice Medal, which is awarded to soldiers who die as a result of military service or are wounded by hostile action.

A scathing report by the Military Police Complaints Commission on the investigation into Langridges death, concluded his family was disrespected, ignored and given potentially misleading information.

Master of ceremonies Rick Streifel, himself a veteran, reminded those present that 70 of the Canadian deaths in Afghanistan were the result of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).Canada has the highest lifetime PTSD prevalence rate out of 16 countries worldwide, Streifel said.

Those that fell were fathers, mothers, sons, daughters brothers and sisters, Streifel said.

And today we have gathered here to show their families, the Memorial Cross recipients of this province, that they, as well as their families, will never be forgotten.

The other Silver Cross families present were Ann and Garry Bason, Sian and Brad Lisuer, Diane Street and Nancy and Allan Mansell.

The ride started at Trev Deeley in Vancouver before heading up up Hwy 1 en route to the Derek Doubleday Park off Fraser Hwy in Langley for the memorial service

The Walk to Remember was built in 2012 as a result of the efforts of two Langley students, sister and brother Elizabeth and Michael Pratt.

The two formed Langley Youth for the Fallen in 2011 to promote their dream of establishing the memorial grove.

Through sponsorships and partnerships with the Township of Langley, Arboretum and Botanical Society of Langley, Rotary clubs, Veterans Affairs Canada, and other community groups, 158 trees were planted along the Walk one for every Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Saluting the Langley memorial. Dan Ferguson Langley Times

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VIDEO: A trip to Langley to honour Canada's Afghanistan soldiers ... - Surrey Now-Leader

This photo taken on August 11, 2014, shows the machine gun of a U.S. soldier, part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), onboard a Chinook helicopter over the Gardez district of Paktia province.

Shah Marai / AFP/Getty Images

KABUL, Afghanistan -- At least three civilians were killed by gunmen inside a mosque in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, the Interior Ministry said.

The ministry said that nine others were wounded in the Friday night attack in Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, in a statement released Saturday.

The ministry strongly condemned the attack and called it "an act against Islam and humanity." It said the civilians were attacked while praying.

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Afghanistan's capital was hit by one of its worst attacks since 2014 on Wednesday. At least 90 people were killed and around 400 were injured in ...

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Taliban and Haqqani network are active in Paktia and neighboring provinces and often target government officials as well as Afghan security forces in the region.

In a separate report from southern Helmand province, at least two border police officers were killed Friday night after their checkpoint was struck by U.S. military forces during a joint operation, said Omar Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor in Helmand.

Zwak said that three other policemen were wounded in the airstrike carried out during the operation against insurgents in the Nad Ali district.

"What we have so far is the initial report of the air strike" said Zwak, adding that an investigation was underway and that the dead toll could rise.

There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military on the airstrike in Helmand province.

2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Gunmen kill 3 in attack on mosque in Afghanistan - CBS News