The peace president is ending his term with American forces engaged in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen (and perhaps elsewhere). Moreover, his efforts in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan are escalating. Here’s the latest from Afghanistan:

The Obama administration has granted American forces in Afghanistan new authorities to assist Afghan troops, a U.S. official said Thursday. The move signals a return to broader military might against the Taliban and pulls the United States back deeper into the country’s ongoing war.
The new measures include authorizing U.S. troops, stationed in Afghanistan on a dual training and counterterrorism mission, to begin accompanying conventional local forces on the battlefield in a way that now occurs only with elite Afghan forces. That, in turn, could mean greater use of U.S. air power to support those American and Afghan forces as they do battle.

There is a simple rule of armed conflict — absent surrender, you can’t make peace by yourself. Throughout the first six years of Obama’s presidency, his administration made a concerted effort to end wars by pulling out of wars. The result wasn’t peace but the prospect of strategic defeat. ISIS swept into Iraq, came perilously close to the Kurdish capital, and even threatened Baghdad. The Taliban have surged in Afghanistan. Each of our jihadist enemies have the intention to use their resources and territory to strike once again at the U.S. If an administration wishes to defend the American people, it has little choice but to engage.

The Obama administration’s increased military activity signals that — in at least limited respects — it is a learning organism, and the commitment of renewed military resources gives the lie to Obama’s repeated protestations that the terror threat is no big deal (your bathtub is more dangerous!) War is a test of wills as well as a test of arms, and this latest news signals that we have not lost all of our national resolve. The fight continues — as it must.