Posted on 11/01/2009 7:20:58 PM PST by kristinn
The Obama administration is considering an almost complete surrender in Afghanistan, if the report this weekend by the BBC's Katty Kay is accurate.
Speaking as a panelist on the Chris Matthews Show, a weekend public affairs broadcast, Kay reported on the internal debate at the White House, "There are real questions being asked, I think, about whether even with a big injection of troops this is a real country, a real war that you can win.
"And there's a new phrase which is floating around the White House which is 'minimum security'. That we're not actually aiming for a country which is stable that we are in control of, but we are aiming for a minimum amount of security and perhaps even a negotiated settlement with the Taliban."
This would tie in with reports that Obama has concluded the U.S. cannot beat the Taliban and that he has requested new studies this week, one of each province to determine which ones may be ceded to the Taliban and another for troop levels other than those requested by Gen. McChrystal over two months ago.
Kay's remarks start at the 19:10 minute in the backward clock on the video. She describes three different views on the situation in Afghanistan that have been presented to Obama: The military needs a large injection of troops to perform the current strategy; even with more troops Afghanistan will never be winnable; and "'we have no choice but to win this war' and that is what President Obama said back in March."
Obama has delayed making his decision such that it most likely will not be announced until the end of November, three months into the twelve month window left to win the war Gen. McChrystal stated in August.
Troop casualties in Afghanistan have skyrocketed in the past three months with over 1000 being wounded, and a reported 58 service members killed this past month making it the deadlist month of the eight-year long war.
On Friday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs bragged Obama has spent almost twenty hours in meetings on Afghanistan since August.
I agree.
Why not just call them the Security Auxiliary (SA)? The acronym would about fit the historical context.
Please see post #152. I agree with a lot of what you say.
Linking to a vid/song that I think you’ll enjoy, just in case you aint seen it yet. The song is applicable to threads such as this too, I do believe.
http://www.thewarriorsong.com/Video.html
>>God help the Afghanis, especially the females
And the boys, no kiteflying, skateboarding (yes, they do!), music, dancing, not to mention the poor barbers and CD/DVD rental places, the list goes on and on.
Looks like we’re back to the 90’s - when asked by the Pakistanis if they could supports a Talib regime, like the Saudis without the oil, Clinton readily agreed.
How shameful of the socalled progs and libs - simply condemn a nation to the worst kind of debilitating, misogynistic, life hating tyranny.
And you know, we will NOT help the Northern Alliance fight the Talibs. Just like Bill never did.
Jihadis of all stripes, Pakistani Generals will all cheer.
Allahu Akbar!
Cut and run.
And the 800 Pound Gorilla of the Heroin Trade.
The avid and fervent consumer in the West!
You’ve hit it. Figs ($5 an acre profit) or Opium ($500 an acre profit), figuratively.
What would any sane farmer grow?
Probably so. But the Viet Cong were demoralized and on the run after the failure of their Tet Offensive, too. But none of that filtered into the plastic bubble world that the MSM lived and still lives in. That’s the irony of constantly referring to “another Vietnam”. They just well might create it.
In G-dforsaken shyteholes like Afghanistan, you really can’t expect a gleaming, pluralistic republic. You have to fight to keep them from becoming terrorist havens that metastasize, spreading death and destruction all over the world. If they don’t revert back to that, you’ve won. That’s worth expending blood and treasure over. But we’ve got the wrong man for the job in charge. Dubya infuriated me over immigration, his monetary policy was just plain awful, and he folded like an umbrella when it hit the fan in the credit crisis, but one thing he did and did well, and that was stand by the troops in the field. For that alone, he’ll go down in history as one of the greats, and he’ll deserve it.
Yes, this is massively depressing for everybody, male or female, young or old.
BTW, regarding the heroin trade, I seem to recall something earlier this spring where Bambi actually called off some of the DEA forces because the Afghanis supposedly couldn’t make a living otherwise. We had been trying to get them to plant food crops (wheat, particularly) but the Taliban had been burning the fields. So Obama quietly knuckled under.
BTW, he has a druggie reputation himself, so don’t discount this. Also, a drugged people is a complaisant people, so don’t forget that, either!
>>Bambi actually called off some of the DEA forces
That’s one indication of the complexity of Afghanistan.
During Bush’s tenure, the DEA was kept at arms length by the military. Too many cross purposes if DEA and the DOD are working the same territory in Afghanistan - DEA wants to bust the local farmer kingpin, DOD wants him to play ball and ID Talibs, CIA wants to pay him for info.
>>We had been trying to get them to plant food crops (wheat, particularly
Yeah, and then when a fresh shipment of Western AID wheat arrives in Kabul, the price drops in the market, nailing the farmer.
The next year will be an interesting one in Afghania.
You are so right....shameful is not strong enough.
The list is long, and unending.
THAT’S a Man!
Well said.
Maybe, but at best, those millions of snot-nosed brats would be motivated by little more than comfort items, rather than any real belief in what they’re doing. And history’s shown us how well soldiers fight when they don’t believe in what they’re fighting for.
And any foreign help, even under the phony authority of the Useless Nitwits, would be more apt to be seen as foreign invaders than helpful outsiders.
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