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With all the attention being focused on Iraq and Syria, has the U.S. forgotten about Afghanistan?  Is Afghanistan now seen as the “forgotten war,” as the U.S. is preoccupied with Islamic extremism against the Islamic State?

Anthony Cordesman, Military Analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies issued report that the U.S. is now engaged in a major national debate over how to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Afghanistan, however, has become the “forgotten war” at a time when the Taliban is making steady gains, civilian casualties are rising, there still is no clear U.S. plan, and its allies lack clear plans for any post-2014 aspect of transition.

Cordesman continued to report that Afghanistan is also only part of the story. Pakistan is as critical to any meaningful definition of strategic success in the fighting as Afghanistan.  Pakistan, however, is in political chaos, has rising tensions with India, has only made uncertain progress in its latest military campaign, and has made no progress in the mix of economic and educational reforms that are critical to a stable future. Few Americans see Pakistan as having been anything but the most reluctant ally since 9/11 and many see Pakistan’s ISI as part of the enemy.

The United States has virtually left Afghanistan without leaving behind a comprehensive strategy not only for Afghanistan, but for the Central Asian region as a whole.

In the report Cordesman mentioned the end result is that United States has failed to define meaningful future strategies for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia. It is cutting its presence in Afghanistan so quickly that its Transition efforts may well fail, and it has no clear future strategy for Pakistan or Central Asia.

In the FY2015 budget and in the new Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR 2014) the US made only passing reference to Afghanistan and that was in the context of the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces, but it failed to mention anywhere in the QDR a broad based strategy focused on Afghanistan and Central Asia.  Instead the administration has focused on other regions of the world.

In his May West Point address, President Obama stated, “four and a half years later, as you graduate, the landscape has changed.  We have removed our troops from Iraq.  We are winding down our war in Afghanistan.  Al Qaeda’s leadership on the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been decimated, and Osama bin Laden is no more.”

Obama continued, “America struck huge blows against al Qaeda core and pushed back against an insurgency that threatened to overrun the country.  But sustaining this progress depends on the ability of Afghans to do the job.  And that’s why we trained hundreds of thousands of Afghan soldiers and police.  Earlier this spring, those forces, those Afghan forces, secured an election in which Afghans voted for the first democratic transfer of power in their history.  And at the end of this year, a new Afghan President will be in office and America’s combat mission will be over.”

Throughout the speech which was touted as Obama’s chance to outline his strategic foreign policy vision, the unfortunate aspect the president failed to mention Central Asia at all.

One only has to look back into the annals of history to see when the U.S. fails to mention a strategic concept of a given region the U.S. has come to regret this strategic lapse.  One only has to remember the Truman administration failing to include Korea as important to U.S. security, and the failure of the U.S. to articulate a coherent strategy for Central Asia after the Russian pullout from Afghanistan.

The failure to address Central Asia will come back to haunt the U.S., as it should be noted, if you do not remember history you are doomed to repeat it.