Obama Is Considering Strategy Shift in Afghan War

nytimes.com ^ | September 23,009 | Kevin Wolf

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

WASHINGTON — President Obama is exploring alternatives to a major troop increase in Afghanistan, including a plan advocated by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scale back American forces and focus more on rooting out Al Qaeda there and in Pakistan, officials said Tuesday.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who spoke Tuesday in National Harbor, Md., wants to scale back troops in Afghanistan.

The options under review are part of what administration officials described as a wholesale reconsideration of a strategy the president announced with fanfare just six months ago. Two new intelligence reports are being conducted to evaluate Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials said.

The sweeping reassessment has been prompted by deteriorating conditions on the ground, the messy and still unsettled outcome of the Afghan elections and a dire report by Mr. Obama’s new commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Part of the problem is that the Taliban is living in Pakistan, and Afghanistan can’t invade Pakistan because Pakistan has a huge army and nuclear weapons.

[domeika]

Hey, the rats wanted to bring back the draft....that should fix it right? (11/20/06 -- Rangel to introduce bill reviving military draft)

Oh wait, that was because Bush was president, so it was ok....never mind.

[American Constitutionalist]

Indecision IS a SIGN to the enemy.
So basically, he is giving the enemy a sign to proceed.

[dirtboy]

I just have a simple question - why, in almost ten years time, have we not been able to create an Afghan military capable of protecting the government and defending it against the taliban?

I would venture that the vast majority of Afghanis hold far more allegiance to their tribal identity than to their national identity.

[Little Ray]

Sometimes you have to admit there are no good guys and pick your “b@st@rd.”

We need to stop trying to “unify” them. Instead, pick a tribe, preferably a fairly strong one. Raise a military force from it. Give it leave to rape, pillage and murder their neighbors with a special emphasis on anyone or any village or any town that provides support or sanctuary to the Taliban or Al Qaeda. Provide weapons, training, technical and artillery / air support. Then let ‘em run wild.

With a little luck and planning, we won't suffer any casualties we care about, but the supporters for the Taliban and Al Qaeda will be annihilated.

And, maybe we'll end up with a “unified” Afghanistan, too. After all, if there is only one tribe it will probably be unified...

This should be combined with a war on Taliban and Al Qaeda money. We should hunt down any one who donates money to the Taliban or Al Qaeda, or to a "charity" that supports them, or runs such a charity, or otherwise handles money for them. No arrests, no trials, just a midnight visit from some very nasty people, a bomb in their car, or a PGM through their bedroom window at 3 AM.

[teddyballgame]

I think Rush summed it up best.

RUSH: President Obama wants more time to develop a new strategery in Afghanistan. His general wants 40,000 more troops, otherwise the general says we and the allies run the risk of losing the war. Would agreeing to 40,000 more troops jeopardize liberal support for Obamacare? Stop and think about that. The president of the United States is teetering; he’s flirting with the actual concept of defeat in Afghanistan. Forty thousand troops the general says makes the difference. Forty thousand troops in one hand or losing or jeopardizing support of liberals for Obamacare in Congress. What does this tell you about the man? These are the domestic political questions that haunt Barack Obama. He’s playing politics when he ought to be fighting and winning a war and acting like a commander-in-chief who gives a damn about his troops in the field.

He’s playing golf, he’s yucking it up with Letterman, he’s got his stupid Health and Human Services secretary telling people how to sneeze on their sleeves. He’s sitting on a report from his commanding general in Afghanistan that says we either boost troop numbers there or face the distinct possibility of defeat and he wants more time to study a new strategy. He’s doing nothing. He has the reports. He won’t make a decision. He’s voting “present.” It’s a dereliction of duty.

[dirtboy]

There is a saying that the generals fight the last war. IMO a surge in Afghanistan will not work the way the surge worked in Iraq, because the two are very, very different entities. I think your bastard approach has a better chance of working - plus, it still gives the US and Coalition forces a footprint from which to maintain drone attacks against high-value targets. But I doubt the wimps in the White House have the guts to take such a hard-nosed approach. And their desire to move to drone combat in lieu of other approachs ignores the fact that, in a landlocked country such as Afghanistan, you need a secure base of operations from which to launch such attacks.

However, I think we can both agree that Obama is not giving the generals what they want for the wrong reasons.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Obama Is Considering Strategy Shift in Afghan War

Let me guess:

He wants to surrender?

[Little Ray]

You’re right of course. The political will to victory is not there. In fact I frequently wonder if the Obama administration is on the side of our enemies.

[American Constitutionalist]

" He won’t make a decision. He’s voting “present.” It’s a dereliction of duty. "
He is aiding and abetting the enemy by his stalling and indecision.

[Kenny Bunk]

I wonder if Colin Powell has any thoughts on that

Colin Powell actually has few strategic skills. His work in in planning and preparing for Desert Storm was laughable, and he had to be sidelined, and a group of competent colonels called in .

He was also the principal author of the bad advice to Bush to not pursue the retreating Iraqis and leave Saddam in place. IMNSHO, were it not for affirmative action, he would have become, in all likelihood, a perhaps adequate battalion commander at some non-combat base. Napoleon he ain't. During Desert Storm, they tried saving his face by comparing him to McClellan. But McClellan was an organizational genius, which Powell ain't, either.

Despite his ringing endorsement of Obama, he has been left out of the administration, and left in the RINO wing of the GOP, which militarily speaking, is probably a good thing. He probably hasn't abandoned dreams of a place on the GOP national ticket in '12 .... ROTFLMAO

[catnipman]

“The Biden Plan”

Now, there’s a phrase to send chills coursing through your cockles. Actually, I believe that’s what they call an oxymoron. You know, like “French Military Strategy”. Come to think of it, I think those two “ideas” pretty much mean the same thing. In fact, I just looked them up, and Webster’s lists “Surrender Monkey” as a synonym for both phrases.

I just feel so secure and safe now that we’re going to project our military power against our enemies via “The Biden Plan”! How about you?

[Eighth Square]

Surely there is a place for ACORN in all of this? imagine a coalition of pimps and hookers led by the intrepid Joe with his vast international experience?!

[SampleMan]

Please define "victory" in Afghanistan. Then we can talk about ways and means.

Victory = The Death of the Taliban as a predominant force. There are several ways to accomplish that. Some are more humane and take a while, others are brutish but quick.

Please tell me the positives for accepting defeat.

[Jim Noble]

Please tell me the positives for accepting defeat

Define "defeat" in Afghanistan, and then I'll review the pros and cons.

[exnavy]

The man is intentionally trying to destroy the military as well as the free enterprise system and all that is The United States of America.

[agere_contra]

Absolutely.

Obama needs to get the hell out of the way. His insane ROE are the main impediment to success against the Taliban.

[silverleaf]

Get General Honore in to manage an expeditious pullout. Our brave guys and gals are dying over there to give obama an illusion of being a military commander and tough on terror

“obama-media whores, you believe that bull about Joe Biden having a strategic plan? You are all stuck on stupid..!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVBY_SqzJtI

[SampleMan]

Define "defeat" in Afghanistan, and then I'll review the pros and cons.

Allowing the Taliban to take over. Looking weak. Telling our military that they have died in vain.

[longhorn too]

Biden. Now that is a billiant military mind for ya!