Posted on 09/01/2009 5:43:01 PM PDT by Kaslin
It's the nature of Afghanistan that nothing there ever works out the way outsiders expect, and that certainly was the case with last month's presidential election.
Rather than producing a mandate for good governance, as U.S. officials once hoped, the balloting has brought allegations of fraud, political squabbling and delay, and a new set of headaches in the war against the Taliban.
The Obama administration has talked of Afghanistan as the "good" war (as opposed to the "bad" one in Iraq), where more U.S. troops and a smarter strategy would produce results. But getting Afghanistan right won't be as easy as it once seemed.
As key policymakers returned to Washington this week from August holidays, they were weighing the Afghanistan conundrum. Should President Obama back a broad counterinsurgency strategy that would try to build long-term stability by protecting the Afghan population and promoting political reconciliation?
Or should he opt for a narrower and less costly counterterrorism approach that would use high-tech firepower to prevent al-Qaida from rebuilding safe havens?
Obama hasn't decided which approach he favors, nor have his top advisers. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander in Kabul, has just delivered his recommendation for the broader strategy — which would almost certainly mean more troops next year.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden and many members of Congress are urging a narrower focus. Some critics have warned that this could be Obama's Vietnam.
We're Not Brits
How should Obama think about this crucial foreign policy decision? One obvious answer is that before he commits to the broad goal of stabilizing Afghanistan, he should be confident that America has a better chance of succeeding than did two earlier aspirants, Britain and the Soviet Union.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...
How about ‘The Coulter Strategy’? Kill their leaders and convert the rest of them to Christianity. ;)
Step one:
Don’t get in a big hurry.
a winning one...right now the adiminstration has not explored that option.that said the first thing you need to do is own their leaders.
hahhaha easier said than done.
what happened to the war demonstrators?
Perhaps just a Cargo Cult?
Excellent suggestion
2. Eliminate Pakistan.
3. ??????
4. Victory!
Now it is not good for the Christian’s health to hustle the Arian Brown,
For the Christian riles, and the Arian smiles, and it weareth the Christian down;
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white with the name of the late deceased,
And the epitath drear:”A fool lies here who tried to Hustle the East.”
Rudyard Kipling
“The Naulahka”
To win, there must be change. The question is how much?
What will be most appealing ? The American urged change or the reactionary Islamic fanatic conservatism of the Taliban.
I think the women will ultimately make the decision that will be implemented by the tribal leaders.
We should have carpet bombed that rock infested sand pile on 9/12 and this whole discussion would not be happening.
How did we defeat Japan?
The only winning strategy in Afghanistan is one that abandons the idea that “innocent lives” must be protected at all costs.
Bush did win the war in Afghanistan.
What constitutes “win”? What is the objective?
Funny you should ask that question. I drive through possibly the most idiotically liberal burg of Yellow Springs, Ohio.
For the duration of the Bush Presidency the streets were lined with anti war signs and on weekends there would be token protesters. All the signs are gone the moment mr. hopey changey gets elected.
Exactly. Now its just a matter of hanging on to what was won. Don't give it back.
My feelings are well known. I would have launched Minutemen to place 4 W78 warheads on Tora Bora once Osama's presence there was confirmed, and called it a day.
I don't care who runs "Afghanistan", I don't care what they do with their women, or to each other. I don't care what they grow, what they do, what gods they worship.
I certainly don't care what barbaric and savage procedures they use to select a government.
The beauty of my plan was, whoever crawled out from under the rocks could have been told, "Piss us off and we'll do it again. cc: Saddam Hussein cc: Pervez Musharref cc: King Abdullah cc: Bashar al-Assad."
End of story.
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