US will be defeated in Afghanistan: Former CIA official(Sheuer barf)

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[milestogo]

US will be defeated in Afghanistan: Former CIA official

Washington, Dec 31: A former senior CIA operative who tracked Osama bin Laden for 10 long years foresees "an apparent American defeat in Afghanistan". Michael Sheuer said the way ahead in Afghanistan and along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border "ultimately would lead to the defeat of US and NATO forces and the demise of the Karzai government". Scheuer told the Daily Times in Washington that by failing to accomplish the only mission that had to be accomplished in Afghanistan, the US was now faced with a growing insurgency that probably already outnumbered the combined US-NATO forces. But he has handsome words of praise for Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. The US has seldom found an ally better than Musharraf, who has acted to advance "US interests" even while jeopardizing his own, Sheuer observed. Some of Musharraf's actions, like sending Pakistani troops to tribal areas, were clearly "against Pakistan's interests" and have "brought his country to the brink of a civil war", he said. By not abandoning the Cold War practice of trying to find foreigners to do "America's dirty work, we have blithely assumed that Musharraf's Pakistan is an American proxy, with national-security interests that mirror those of the US", he said. "The truth is that virtually none of the many things Musharraf has done to assist the US in Afghanistan has been in Pakistan's national interest; indeed, by sending the Pakistani Army into the Pashtun regions he brought his country to the brink of civil war." His praise for Musharraf was in sharp contrast to criticism from most American think tanks who, while crediting the President with working to fight terrorism, accuse him of either not doing enough or serving the interests of the Pakistani Pushtuns who support the Taliban and host foreign and Al Qaeda fighters. The Sep 1 agreement that Musharraf's regime signed with the tribals in North Waziristan has worked precisely in that direction and incensed Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Musharaf had also worked to rescue Pakistani nationals fighting alongside the Taliban, when the latter's regime fell, allowing in the process many key Taliban and Al Qaeda hands to escape, they have said. However, Sheuer takes a peep into American history to draw an analogy about Musharraf's role. Bureau Report

[Flavius]

maybe they should call ethiopians to help

[ARE SOLE]

Huh?

[Cinnamon]

bring in the Ethiopians to clean haus!!!

[yuta250]

I've always supported taking out the Taliban's terrorist training bases over there and thought it the right thing to do, but I do wonder exactly what it is we have planned for the end game over there. Even the old Soviet Union was unable to pacify this country despite its proximity to it.

[Zhang Fei]

We'd better sit up and listen, since this comes from the guy who prevented a major terrorist attack against DC and New York City just over five years ago. Wait a minute. You mean the attacks were carried out successfully, with billions of dollars in property damage and thousands killed? Never mind.

[Jeff Chandler]

bring in the Ethiopians to clean haus!!!

Wie so?

[Canard]

"I've always supported taking out the Taliban's terrorist training bases over there and thought it the right thing to do, but I do wonder exactly what it is we have planned for the end game over there. Even the old Soviet Union was unable to pacify this country despite its proximity to it."

And despite a lot more troops on the ground. I agree, at this point I cannot envisage what 'winning' in Afghanistan would look like or how we are getting there.

I know one thing: winning cannot occur while the enemy has a ready supply of moral and logistical support in a neighbouring state where we cannot go.

[Puppage]

winning cannot occur while the enemy has a ready supply of moral and logistical support in a neighbouring state where we cannot go.

And, also has control of The House

[PISANO]

Isn't is strange how OUR nation NEVER loses a battle yet every EXPERT that the DBM can find is quoted as saying we are LOSING or WE CAN'T WIN or that eventually we will LOSE the WAR!!

Other than our ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY, and their C-in-C there seems to be only an insignificant 'few' who BELIEVE we can succeed at ANYTHING we do!!

[shrinkermd]

He is right about one thing. Getting Bin Laden would help more than any other strategy or policy. He is the spiritual leader of a group of people who think in slogans and act with bullets.

Not noted for intellectual endeavors these people rely on cunning and claims of religious superiority to seize power in a brutal way.

Get the head and you create a problem of who will be the new leader and why.

[johnny7]

Uhh... doesn't the pr*ck mean NATO?

[weegee]

Should a former senior CIA operative (spy) be going public with his name? Couldn't that enganger other agents who worked with him?

Or is it okay to blow your cover as long as you are attacking a Republican administration?

[Mo1]

good question

[weegee]

Speaking of which, Bin Laden's corpse has been silent lately.

[Dilbert56]

Given the normal accuracy of the CIA's predictions in that area of the world I find his certitude rather reassuring.

[nathanbedford]

Just two more places where we are "winning."

[Cicero]

Scheuer is a clintonoid pimple. But in the long run he's probably right.

We can stay in there as long as it suits us, which presumably means until we stabilize the situation in Syria and Iran and get our house in order on the energy problem. Which, unfortunately, we haven't even begun working on.

After we pull out, presumably Afghanistan will revert to what it has been for the past several thousand years. Neither the Russians nor the British were able to fix it, and we won't be able to, either. We can only stabilize it as long as we have the political will to stay there. But we may see that end in 2008, and we are likely to lose allies as time goes on.

Russia and China now want us out of there, and that doesn't help, either.

[nathanbedford]

I just posted this comment on another thread a few moments ago:

Meanwhile we must find some tactical military solutions to our obvious deficiency in combating asymmetrical resistance to our occupation in lands that we have conquered. I fear that Afghanistan is only a year or two behind Iraq in the level of resistance.

[Gunny Gene]

I'm getting real tired of the BS that the USA "can't win a military victory" in some 'stan or another, or some damn sandbox. I don't see what the problem is - other than a overabundance of political cowardice, and a bunch of bleeding heart idiots that think we need to "save" every asshole on the planet.