What’s the right path in Afghanistan?
I hope it’s no secret that I remain torn on the path ahead in Afghanistan. I think we’ve got the right military leadership, and I think that the plan that leadership has put forward offers our best hope of success. But even with a smart plan and good leadership, I’m pessimistic about our chances of truly gaining control of the situation in Afghanistan.
Paul McGeough of the Sydney Morning Herald, who has reported extensively from Afghanistan, gave voice to a lot of those doubts in a recent speech. He had much the same reaction to Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s Afghan assessment as I did. It was largely candid and honest, but in places it seemed to be arguing against the very policy it was proposing.
McGeogh’s summation of the situation in Afghanistan, where he has visited 20 times by his count, is chilling:
“The Taliban is stronger, more violent and more in control than at any time since it was dislodged from Kabul in 2001. Foreign forces, mostly American, are dying at a greater rate and hundreds of billions of dollars are being squandered for no apparent return. Public and political support for the war has peaked and now is declining in the U.S. and in other coalition countries. As Hamid Karzai continues to demonstrate with his election fraud and his response to its exposure – the Kabul Government is rotten from the top.”
He concludes that after eight years of occupation, it’s probably too late to essentially start over again. “The McChrystal blueprint might have worked in Year Two or even in Year Five of the conflict – and I stress ‘might have’ – but at this stage it’s too little and it’s too late,” he writes.
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217 comments Add your comment
Finn McCool
October 26th, 2009
1:08 pm
Just walk away.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
October 26th, 2009
1:08 pm
Cut and run!
ewwwwwwwww.
Go ahead on, saddle yourselves with another catastrophic defeat, you own both of them, democrats.
Fly-On-The-Wall
October 26th, 2009
1:09 pm
I’m afraid I agree with you. Maybe we should use the ‘containment’ policies like we did against communism.
Bud Wiser
October 26th, 2009
1:09 pm
Uh, Jay, this one is for you since you apparently caddied enough for GW Bush, and snarled about his golfing while Iraq was at war when I pointed out that Obowo was playing a little too much b-ball while sitting on McCrystals report…..
President Obama has played more golf over the past nine months than President Bush did in over two years, according to a new report.
CBS’ Mark Knoller — described as by the Web site Politico.com as the “unofficial documentarian and statistician of all things White House-related” — wrote on his Twitter on Sunday that Obama has hit the links more than Bush did in almost three years.
Duh.
As I said, Dopes with Chains.
57 more dead the last 2 months while Obowo figures what best political move to make before he moves to protect and defend the troops.
Impeach Obama.
Fly-On-The-Wall
October 26th, 2009
1:11 pm
Bud,
I’ll take Obama’s delays on a major decision over Bush’s rush to make one.
lmno
October 26th, 2009
1:11 pm
The only true hope for a decent future in Afghanistan is to legitimize their sole source of revenue. They have one crop and its, for the most part, illegal.
Outside of Poppies, there is nothing there for them to sell.
Lets say you could force everyone to agree to be nice. Well, how will they eat? They have no money, no oil, and no jobs.
So, unless we have a plan for them to sustain a living in the future, we might as well leave.
I say, that we legalize the use of opiates and let Pfizer and Merck set up factory farms over there. Employ a few hundred thousand people. then on our end we could let the same corporations set up clinics where junkies could get their fix in a safe environment. It would instantly stop the killing in their country and ours as well.
Fly-On-The-Wall
October 26th, 2009
1:13 pm
Imno,
Interesting idea. It will never fly but an interesting idea.
Bud Wiser
October 26th, 2009
1:15 pm
Oh, and if you choose not to believe it because it came from Politico.com, then you have a very serious problem with uncomfortable, or shall I say, ‘inconvenient truths’.
Twitter is a force beyond even Obowo’s control, so far, until they decide to nationalize the media. Of course the former ‘mainstream media’ is already stone cold dead to anything anti-Obama, so they’ve already rolled up their sleeves for the injection…….or is it dropped their drawers? With those types, who knows.
Bosch
October 26th, 2009
1:15 pm
“What’s the right path in Afghanistan?”
Bring our troops home and put them in defense mode here.
Bud Wiser
October 26th, 2009
1:16 pm
Oh yeah Fly, you’ll take the delay while the families mourn their dead while Obowo sits on his ass.
Nice trade.
#1 Foxy Lady
October 26th, 2009
1:16 pm
Bud Wiser,
You are nothing but a little punk Obama hater. Why don’t you go join a club fo angry little men who have nothing better to do than hate Obama.
Why do you hate America and Obama so much? Is it because he is the winner of a Noble Peace Prize or because he went to Harvard and is smarter than you and the silly little Obama haters?
Wyld Byll Hyltnyr
October 26th, 2009
1:18 pm
Don’t worry about being “torn”, Jay. As soon as Obumbler picks a path, you’ll jump on the band wagon. Well, on second thoughts, you might have to feel torn quite a while longer as our War President, “Ol’ Blood & Numbnutz” hisself own self, plays a politically correct version of “eenie, meanie, miney, mo..” before deciding.
Bosch
October 26th, 2009
1:19 pm
Bud Wiser,
Get off your sanctimonious hobby horse. You know as well as anybody here that you’d be the first to start yelling “Oh, Obama is rushing into Afghanistan without all the information” if that were the case just to have something to hate him on.
He’s the POTUS, he won the election, get over it.
lmno
October 26th, 2009
1:20 pm
“57 more dead the last 2 months while Obowo figures what best political move to make before he moves to protect and defend the troops.”
So what are you proposing? That Obama instantly makes the decision to send 40,000 more troops into harms way or that he instantly decides to bring them all home?
I got the part where you want him to make a split decision, but which decision is it?
Oh, wait, maybe you need to know whether he is for sending 40,000 more troops so that you will know if you are against it.
Maybe you can’t make a decision on that until he takes a stance so you can take the opposite.
stands for decibels
October 26th, 2009
1:21 pm
Jay, I can only hope that Obama doesn’t catch a case of LBJ-itis and feels that there’d be something unmanly about pulling out the troops.
stands for decibels
October 26th, 2009
1:22 pm
if you choose not to believe it because it came from Politico.com
Politico?: The people who published this bit of right wing lunacy from John Linder, wherein the Fair Tax goon equated progressivism with Hitler, Stalin and Mao? That “liberal” politico?
USinUK
October 26th, 2009
1:27 pm
“President Obama has played more golf over the past nine months than President Bush did in over two years, according to a new report.”
and bush cleared more scrub than Obama has in the same period
and bush rode his mountain bike more than Obama has in the same period
and bush choked on more pretzels than Obama in the same period.
mike
October 26th, 2009
1:28 pm
“Why do you hate America and Obama so much?”
Yay! Another liberal questioning the patriotism of anyone who dares disagree with their political views. Seems to be a trend.
So much for “dissent is patriotic”, huh?
stands for decibels
October 26th, 2009
1:30 pm
I say, that we legalize the use of opiates and let Pfizer and Merck set up factory farms over there. Employ a few hundred thousand people. then on our end we could let the same corporations set up clinics where junkies could get their fix in a safe environment. It would instantly stop the killing in their country and ours as well.
Kind of a dumb question, but is there something particularly conducive to the climate/soil of Afghanistan that makes poppy cultivation decidedly more viable there than anywhere else on the planet?
Because if its cultivation were essentially legalized as you proposed, there’d be nothing to prevent other nations with a lot more on the ball from simply snagging that market from them.
Otherwise, though, yours is a reasonable enough suggestion… well, except for the whole business of what you do with the people who still aren’t employed in this trade. I can’t see it accounting for more than, as you put it yourself, a few hundred thousand jobs.
mike
October 26th, 2009
1:30 pm
USinUK –
You are missing the point. Nobody is begrudging Obama his rec time. Most of us are simply pointing out that the criticisms of people like yourself about Bush’s rec time have double standards. Nothing new about that.
Hilarious conservative name-calling
October 26th, 2009
1:30 pm
You self-labeled conservative types are really good and really, really funny with the name calling. I’ve taken the liberty to repeat o few of the very original and clever little gems:
- Obowo
- Dopes with Chains
- Obumbler
- Ol’ Blood & Numbnutz
- Obowo
Please keep delivering the comedy gold!!!
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
October 26th, 2009
1:31 pm
Well, when I saw Bookman’s headline I thought, How the heck do I know? It’s a big country with lots of mountains and you could get lost and people with towels on their head could be shooting at you. But then I seen he was really asking what we should do in Afghanistan.
I seen somewhere that Afghanistan is bigger than California. In CA, the Marines have around 40,000 men but they’re just a drop in the bucket compared to the population. So I figure it would take about 1 million men to handle Afghanistan.
Then I started thinking about how we could come up with 1 million men to send to Afghanistan, give or take 200,000. And the only answer that made sense was to bring the draft back. It’s what we had to do in Vietnam, even though we sent just half a million men over there.
So there’s your answer. Bring back the draft. And send so many men over there a towel-head won’t be able to go to the toilet without running into a Marine or a Army man or an AF man. Now I’m a little too old to go back in, but I know there’s lots of Patriots on this blog that would be happy to answer the call if they got a letter from Uncle Sam telling them to report for duty. Only this time don’t make no exceptions. Don’t let college students off or people that have kids or people that have a pile-on cyst or anybody under about age 60. And make the women go too. I figure if so many people support that war they shouldn’t be held back just because their skin is the wrong shape or size. And make the gays go too. Only put them in their own units.
That’s my opinion and it happens to be very true. Have a good p.m. everybody.
Mrs. Godzilla
October 26th, 2009
1:32 pm
AT least Obama did not lie about giving golf up….or has the right completely forgotten that little nugget?
ANYWAY….
No surge for Afghanistan.
Bring the kids home.
mike
October 26th, 2009
1:34 pm
Hilarious conservative name-calling –
I guess you missed all of the liberal name calling, like “little punk Obama hater”, “Fauxbots”, “wingnut”, and “professional shuckers and grinners for the Republiconned ”
Of course, name calling is the lowest form of discourse, but don’t pretend that it is not employed by both sides.
mike
October 26th, 2009
1:35 pm
Redneck –
As usual, you “satire” only demonstrates that it is you who are the intolerant one who needs to demonize any who disagree with you.
Bosch
October 26th, 2009
1:42 pm
mike,
When I call people “wingnut” it with the utmost endearment. Sometimes I abbreviate and just call the wingnuts “nuts.”
We are the moonbats. It’s like team names. Feel free to abbreviate and call us “bats” Fine with me.
mike
October 26th, 2009
1:43 pm
Bosch –
Fair enough
Bud Wiser
October 26th, 2009
1:47 pm
#1, your dumb ass remarks will not get a response. Like I said before, I’d be more effective reading Shakespeare to pigs and having them understand it better than reasoning with a racist, left wing hater like you.
And to you others, just an acknowledgment of the General’s advice in the report, or an analysis, or just anything better tan just sitting on his hands would be better than doing nothing.
My opinion? I have already made it known, but for you morons, here is my last reprint…..I think that after watching the Russians there for 5 years or so and then see them throw up their hands in disgust and leave, if Obowo is not going to fully commit to getting whatever job done he’s looking at (other than his own political gain), then he should pull them all out and leave.
Is that clear enough for you idiots?
Bosch
October 26th, 2009
1:50 pm
“#1, your dumb ass remarks will not get a response.”
Followed by a three paragraph…….response.
mike
October 26th, 2009
1:52 pm
Bosch –
“Followed by a three paragraph…….response.”
Don’t you love those? If only the people who would swear never to address me again would do as they say…
Doggone/GA
October 26th, 2009
1:53 pm
“is my last reprint”
No such luck
#1 Foxy Lady
October 26th, 2009
1:56 pm
Bud Wiser,
That’s some more good hatin’. Get out that three paragraphs of hatin’.
Maybe you can get out all the hatin’, but the there is no hope hope for your stupidness.
Fly-On-The-Wall
October 26th, 2009
2:11 pm
No more troops, just containment. Defeated communism so it could work here too.
Fly-On-The-Wall
October 26th, 2009
2:12 pm
This one is for Whiner – http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20091026/US.SCI.Global.Cooling_/
Paul
October 26th, 2009
2:13 pm
Kinda late today, but as I noted on the prior thread, I sure hope the Obama Administration has better luck with whatever strategy or attacks they come up with for Afghanistan than they had with their attack on Fox.
Hi Bosch
Thanks for the 1:50 – that was funny. On to weightier matters, I’m getting BSG: The Plan tomorrow and V starts tomorrow.
Bosch
October 26th, 2009
2:15 pm
Hi ya’ Paul! Tomorrow? The Plan? Ooooooooo.
How’s the eyeball?
Obama name calling
October 26th, 2009
2:16 pm
Try these on for size:
- Mr. President
- Senator Obama
- Harvard Graduate
- Member of the Bar
- Editor of Harvard’s Law Review
- Nobel Peace Prize Winner
- Nobel Laureate
- Presidential Election WINNER
Unlike the dopey made-up names, these are all real.
Finn McCool
October 26th, 2009
2:17 pm
Harry Reid is announcing an opt-out public option at 3:15. He must have the votes.
Paul
October 26th, 2009
2:20 pm
Bosch
Not a hole. Retinologist (I didn’t know they even had that degree of specialization) said a tear. We’ll do tests over the next couple months to see if it spreads or not. That was my choice before risking surgery, which likely wouldn’t have helped. Now I’ll just adapt and overcome. Use that Noetics stuff and fix it!
Thanks.
Paul
October 26th, 2009
2:23 pm
Finn
I saw the head of the Chamber of Commerce – okay, it was on Fox, but they asked the questions – this weekend who said they were upset with the Democratic plan because it weakened mandatory coverage to such a degree as to make it worthless. Words to that effect.
I was looking forward to hearing why the Chamber was opposing. It’s quite a different view than what the Administration’s saying about the Chamber.
wyldbyllhyltnyr@gmail.com
October 26th, 2009
2:25 pm
Mrs. Godzilla
1:32 pm
“AT least Obama did not lie about giving golf up….or has the right completely forgotten that little nugget?”
He did lie about giving up smoking though.
Palin/Liz Cheney in 2012 – Send him back to the woodpile!
Normal
October 26th, 2009
2:28 pm
Jay,
We can’t just walk away or, as was crudely put, cut and run, but we do need to withdraw. We have the technological ability to strike targets at will with the Predator, and the B-2. We can make them keep their heads down for a long time.
But we need to bring our troops home. They need rest, medical and mental care. They need to be refitted, retrained, and rebuilt. They need to be with their families and they need a parade. What our troops have endured in Iraq and Afghanistan has been far beyond what my generation did in Viet Nam. We, for the most part, did just one tour. Others volunteered for more tours, but that was their choice. We were not ordered back time and time again. Our ground Armed Forces are worn out and should not be asked to do more.
Bring them home and let them heal. It is the right thing to do.
Marsh
October 26th, 2009
2:29 pm
It is a sad day indeed and my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. However, nearly five thousand soldiers died in Iraq because of the lies by the previous administration. If the previous administration stayed in Afghanistan instead of invading Iraq this would not have happened.
Paul
October 26th, 2009
2:29 pm
wyld
I notice how when you talk about Palin and Liz Cheney you bring up a reference to spanking…
Mrs. Godzilla
October 26th, 2009
2:30 pm
How ya’ know that Byll?
Did he bum one of yours?
Paul
October 26th, 2009
2:30 pm
Normal
[[But we need to bring our troops home.]]
From most of Europe and Japan and southeast Asia and southwest Asia and Africa and South America and Central America and the South Pacific and about 120 countries….
thomas
October 26th, 2009
2:33 pm
Obama name calling,
being called names is kinda part of the territory for presidents. They should expect to be called names and even have mistruths and lies spread about them.
Our most honorable presidents paid it no attention. Only those lacking the self confidence and toughness needed ever seemed to have a huge problem with it.
Should be expected has happened to every president since Washington.
stands for decibels
October 26th, 2009
2:35 pm
Send him back to the woodpile!
For those who are scratching their heads over what Wyld’s charming phrase actually means…
Normal
October 26th, 2009
2:35 pm
I want to add to my last post that during my generation we still had the Draft. Our Armed Forces were constantly replenished. That is not the way it is now and that is why long protracted conflicts can not be won in our current state. Like I said, it’s time to bring them home and re-think the whole thing. Bring them home.
Finn McCool
October 26th, 2009
2:36 pm
What Bud wants is for the Pres to hold a news conference to explain his position on Afghanistan.
Well Bud, the President doesn’t owe you, me, or anyone an explanation of what he is thinking or planning before he does it.
You’ll just have to get used to waiting for him to do it on his own time..which must be hard in the current age of instant news and gratification.