ThinkProgress has assembled the following graph showing that if the reductions are carried out as planned, the United States would still have far more troops in Afghanistan than it did when Obama came into office and more than at any point during former president George W. Bush’s administration… – Think Progress
At the end of the evening we will all be faced with the realization that Pres. Obama’s Afghanistan “surge” will take until after Election Day 2012 to complete. It will then leave around 70,000 U.S. forces inside a country on the cusp of a civil war.
So where does the New York Times get these headlines?
As the Think Progress graphic reveals, the United States would still have far more troops in Afghanistan than it did when Obama came into office and more than at any point during former president George W. Bush’s administration.
The smartest person in the room on Afghanistan isn’t Barack Obama and it’s not Hillary Clinton or Bob Gates. For a very long time it’s been V.P. Joe Biden.
From Huffington Post’s David Wood, which you really should read:
President Barack Obama’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan signals the beginning of the end for the ambitious counterinsurgency strategy that Army Gen. David Petraeus designed and has single-mindedly pursued in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His strategy, which embraced the concept of “winning the people” rather than simply killing the enemy, has attracted a growing number of critics — including Vice President Joe Biden, senior members of Congress and even veteran military officers — who contend that it didn’t work in Iraq and hasn’t worked in Afghanistan. Within the ranks, COIN has become known disparagingly as “armed nation building.”
While Tim Pawlenty doubles down on John McCainisms, which reveals a reinvigoration and reinvention since his debate collapse against Romney. Jon Hunstman’s to the left of Pres. Obama on Afghanistan, Libya and interventionism in general, as I wrote this morning.
So, Pres. Obama’s in between Pawlenty and Huntsman, two Republicans?
This drawdown doesn’t mean squat in the scheme of things.
We’ll still neck deep in Obama’s war in Afghanistan.
As time goes by…not MUCH about or from Obama passes the smell test.
The Taliban, no matter what you think of them ( nothing good ) are nontheless Pashtun. Pashtun are the dominant tribe in Afghanistan; therefore, we are fighting the Afghan people. They may be murdering thugs, but they are Afghanistan’s murdering thugs. That part of the world has been populated by murdering thugs for centuries and always will. There is a reason Al Qaeda ended up there.
If Al Gore was president at the time of 911 he probably would have used special op’s to go after Bin Laden, not invade Afghanistan. There would not have been an invasion of Iraq. But the American people wanted a tax cut and a president they could have a beer with.
Whether they’re Pashtun or Tajik, they live there, and we don’t. When you get right down to it, trying to build a nation made up of people who don’t seem to agree on very much by supporting a corrupt local government isn’t a sure path to success.
I may be understating that a little…
The real issue is that our military presence puts Pakistan in the position of power, because we rely on them for supplies, etc. This is a huge problem for us, which was driven home by the intrigue surrounding bin Laden being harbored for as much as 5 years.
I was watching Al Jazeera’s and the BBC’s reports on the President’s speech. He hadn’t given it when they were recorded, so they were trying to gauge both public opinion and political opinion in DC. Seems they’re noticing that most of us want out of Afghanistan ASAP. Sadly, the politicians don’t seem to think it’s important to do.
AJ showed a group of protesters at the Capital today. They were mentioning that it would be better to spend that money at home. As I wrote awhile back, nearly all of that $100 billion “emergency” appropriation is being spent in southern Asia, mostly to blow up someone else’s country. We could be spending it building up our own instead, and it would at least have helped relieve some of the “recession” we’re still in.
When more citizens than enemy are being killed due to your presence you’ve got a huge problem.