Posted on 11/19/2013 9:34:53 AM PST by sunmars
KABUL – While many Americans have been led to believe the war in Afghanistan will soon be over, a draft of a key US-Afghan security deal obtained by NBC NEWS shows the United States is prepared to maintain military outposts in Afghanistan for many years to come, and pay to support hundreds of thousands of Afghan security forces.
The wide-ranging document, still unsigned by the United States and Afghanistan, has the potential to commit thousands of American troops to Afghanistan and spend billions of US taxpayer dollars.
The document outlines what appears to be the start of a new, open-ended military commitment in Afghanistan in the name of training and continuing to fight al-Qaeda. The war in Afghanistan doesn’t seem to be ending, but renewed under new, scaled-down US-Afghan terms. Advertise | AdChoices
“The Parties acknowledge that continued US military operations to defeat al-Qaeda and its affiliates may be appropriate and agree to continue their close cooperation and coordination toward that end,” the draft states.
The 25-page “Security and Defense Cooperation Agreement Between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan” is a sweeping document, vague in places, highly specific in others, defining everything from the types of future missions US troops would be allowed to conduct in Afghanistan, to the use of radios and the taxation of American soldiers and contractors.
The bilateral security agreement will be debated this week in Kabul by around 2,500 village elders, academics and officials in a traditional Loya Jirga. While the Loya Jirga is strictly consultative, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said he won’t sign it without the Jirga’s approval.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnews.nbcnews.com ...
Heroin trade support?
To think we basically had that place pacified and Obama has helped our enemies rebuild.
I thought Mr. Nobel Prize Winning First Black President was going to get us out in 2014? Another broken “promise”.
.... The only genuine advantage I could see to keeping a few bases open would be to maintain a strategic military footprint in the area.
There is no doubt that the Middle East has vast strategic importance to the US and the world.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
IIRC, we we’re going to be out of Kosovo by Christmas 1995.
Well, I can tell you one thing, it’s not about winning a war.
11/13
“SEAL’s Parents: Obama’s Rules Of Engagement Killing Our Troops”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3090875/posts
What we need is a standing civilian army just as well funded and just a powerful as the military.....THAT ANSWERS DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE! Then when the regulary army can’t fill it’s ranks our country will still be protected.
While the document specifically says the United States would not seek “permanent bases” in Afghanistan, the US military would have “access to and use of the agreed facilities and areas.” Some of these areas would be for the “exclusive use” of US troops.My guess is a few billion dollars a year in funding for Afghan equipment and staffing. Our presence there will be a boon for the local economy, of course.“Afghanistan hereby authorizes United States forces to exercise all rights and authorities within the agreed facilities and areas that are necessary for their use, operation, defense, or control, including the right to undertake new construction works,” the document says.
US troops would be allowed to carry weapons, wear uniforms and guard the perimeter of those areas. The agreement does not say how many “exclusive use” sites there would be in Afghanistan. The United States also would also be permitted to keep vehicles and aircraft in Afghanistan, take off and land from Afghan soil, and fly though Afghan airspace. The facilities would be provided the US government “rent free,” but significant costs would mount in other ways.
US PAYMENTS
The draft agreement says the Afghan government should “eventually” pay for all of its defense and security personal. But until then, “so long as the strategic partnership agreement so provides, the United States shall have an obligation to seek funds on a yearly basis to support the training, equipping, advising and sustaining of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), so that Afghanistan can independently secure and defend itself against internal and external threats, and help ensure that terrorists never again encroach on Afghan soil and threaten Afghanistan, the region, and the world.” The specific amount of payment is not stated. The money would be “managed by relevant Afghan institutions.”
The soviets were smart enough to get the heck out of that place..and the US was the one’s that armed the Afghans...who was the most stupid?
There has never been a commitment to eradicate Islamic Terrorism. Obushma must be getting some good poppy from Afghanistan
Pull the US troops...then nuke the place
Unlike Iraq, where this might have actually done some good...
So the Republic will suffer a death of a thousand cuts...thank you 1st ape.
Sounds like it to me.
I have a few relatives, they get deployed to Afghanistan 2 out of 3 years. I remember them telling me that we will always have a presence there. They told me that there would be highly trained Special Forces but most of the Regular Army Units will be pulled out and that would be a good plan for the future. They said the US was building roads & infrastructure to control the larger towns & cities for the long haul; so the Taliban can never dominate again. Might be part of the price we have pay to prevent another 911. I just wonder where will the money to fund everything comes from?
Bush lied. He said he would not engage in nation building. I count two. Democrats like Bush and LBJ love never ending wars.
Out. Then, a complete audit. The only reason the Democrats would have to care about Afghanistan is if they’re making money off of the war.
The fact the military leadership of the past two Presidents has been incompetent (Bush) or defeatist (Obama) doesn't change the facts on the ground.
You go to war with the idiot CINC's you've got.
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