Trump's biggest blunder is the one Obama handed him

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Reuters

The worst of America's foreign policy today is the fruitless, never-ending effort to defeat the Taliban and achieve a meaningful victory in Afghanistan.

Many Americans have probably forgotten or never knew how America's involvement in Afghanistan even started — including some of the troops now being sent there.

At last count, the war has cost the US more than a trillion dollars, and it is still costing American taxpayers some 45 billion per year.

Today, the Taliban control more territory than at any time since they were ousted from power.

The bottom line is that the US effort in Afghanistan is a failure under Trump, just as it was a failure under Obama and George W. Bush.

What's the dumbest aspect of contemporary US foreign and defense policy? There's no shortage of worthy candidates: the fruitless pursuit of strategic missile defense, which has cost more than 200 billion since the 1980s but still can't provide convincing protection against even a nuclear pipsqueak like North Korea; President Donald Trump's foolish flirtation with a global trade war, and especially his transparently comical claim that imports from Canada — Canada? — constitute some sort of national security threat; or even the blank check the United States has given its various Middle East allies to interfere in places such as Yemen, mostly unsuccessfully. And don't get me started on Trump's handling of North Korea or Iran.See the rest of the story at Business InsiderNOW WATCH: Why Rolex watches are so expensiveSee Also:Donald Trump will not be talked into liking EuropeChinese investment in the US has tanked, and there's no sign of it picking up anytime soonMick Mulvaney turned the CFPB from a forceful consumer watchdog into a do-nothing government cogSEE ALSO: The US military can't confirm where 3.1 billion in funding for Afghanistan went

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