Is the U.S. admitting defeat in Afghanistan?
Now, according to the Times, the best case scenario has been reduced to on in which, as a result of NATO’s training and armaments, “the Taliban find the Afghan Army a more formidable adversary than they expect and [will] be compelled, in the years after NATO withdraws, to come to terms with what they now dismiss as a ‘puppet’ government.” Some would see that as another in a long line of optimistic assessments. The Afghan security forces, or at least its ethnic Tajik core, may well find the political will to fight the Pashtun-dominated Taliban, and the means to prevent themselves from being overrun. But it’s a safe bet that the security forces will control considerably less Afghan territory than NATO forces currently do.
And once it is clear that even a raging Taliban insurgency is no longer considered an obstacle to the departure of U.S. and allied combat units, the rationale for staying even through 2014 becomes murky. Already there’s been talk of having little more than a residual force of trainers and special forces in place by the time the withdrawal deadline arrives — and that such a force would stay beyond the deadline, anyway. NATO’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen conceded in an interview with the Guardian that the Alliance is considering an earlier withdrawal, its morale battered by ongoing “insider” attacks, which in this year alone have seen more than 50 alliance troops killed by members of the very Afghan forces they’re mentoring.









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I’m ok with that. Good riddance. We’ve been there long enough. Enough money. Enough dead troops. Bring them home!
NoStoppingUs on October 3, 2012 at 4:28 PM
Yes, we need to stay there until the job is done.
nazo311 on October 3, 2012 at 4:29 PM
YES! We need to bring our military home so those sub-humans don’t continue to kill them? And when we get our military out, NOT ONE more penny to them or other rop type countries what hate and want us and Israel off the face of the earth!
That is my plan!
L
letget on October 3, 2012 at 4:35 PM
Seven Percent Solution on October 3, 2012 at 4:39 PM
Politicians control the military and haven’t the stomach to do what it would take to finish the job.
Rio Linda Refugee on October 3, 2012 at 4:39 PM
Bush and McCain would have stayed.
nazo311 on October 3, 2012 at 4:41 PM
Bring them home.
Nothing more we can do in that hole. Too many dead already thanks to the brilliant leadership in the last 4 years.
Enough.
Good Lt on October 3, 2012 at 4:44 PM
and they would have been wrong also unless they took the necessary steps to solve the root cause of the US being there.
Rio Linda Refugee on October 3, 2012 at 4:50 PM
And what the job is that exactly?
The Afghan security forces, or at least its ethnic Tajik core…
Install a Tajik (27%) minority government to rule over the Pathans (42% of the population)?
Karzai has said he will stand with Pakistan in a conflict, not the US, so what does this do for US security or policy? The Afghan army recruits have a disturbing habit of shooting Americans in the back so why are they our friends again?
sharrukin on October 3, 2012 at 4:51 PM
I’m not eager to follow either of those examples. I’m more interested in something that works.
What exactly is that job? You’re being vague, so tell us how you would get the “job” done.
DFCtomm on October 3, 2012 at 5:01 PM
Has there been any reporting on the ethnic background of the Afghan soldiers and police who have attacked US forces? The Taliban have far less support among the 3/5ths of Afghans who belong to the Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara, and various other non-Pashtun ethnic groups than among the 2/5ths of Afghans who are Pashtun, so why not give all anti-Taliban groups the support they need to fight the Taliban while retaining only a fairly minimal US military presence? This would be far closer to the strategy of late 2001 than to the strategy of 2002-2008, much less the Obama strategy of greatly increasing the number of US troops (and the US casualty rate) in Afghanistan while simultaneously attempting to negotiate with the Taliban and announcing that the US will at some point abandon the conflict.
DKCZ on October 3, 2012 at 5:13 PM
Why give them any support at all?
What’s in it for us?
The Taliban ARE the Pathans. Why do we care if some ethnic Muslim group wins or loses in Afghanistan when the guy we are backing said he would side with Pakistan AGAINST the US?
Pakistan (our so-called ally) is joined at the hip with the terror groups so who the hell are we fighting and what do we expect to achieve?
sharrukin on October 3, 2012 at 5:20 PM
The interest of the United States in preventing the Taliban from controlling Afghanistan is the same today as it was in 2001; nothing has changed in that regard. This is not because we want a particular ethnic group to control Afghanistan, but because we do not want the Taliban or any other Islamist movement to control Afghanistan and again provide a haven for al Qaeda and other terrorists.
I agree with you that Pakistan is not an ally of the United States, and any new strategy in Afghanistan should recognize that fact.
DKCZ on October 3, 2012 at 5:35 PM
The US admitted defeat on just about everything when they voted in Obama in 2008…
albill on October 3, 2012 at 5:35 PM
Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups are found throughout the Karzai government. It’s not just a Taliban group, but found worldwide. The Karzai government is just as Islamic as the Taliban is.
So we support the Afghan government that says it will back Pakistan which you say is not an ally? And that makes sense to you?
sharrukin on October 3, 2012 at 6:12 PM
Kunta you do realize Obama supported the Afghanistan war as well as most Democrats?
But yes if those monstrous people want to live like Detroiters let em.
CW on October 3, 2012 at 6:20 PM
Bring them home as long as Presidente Downgrade-arsewipe is in charge.
Thomas More on October 3, 2012 at 6:23 PM
And after all the bowing and scraping to muslims that our generals have done.
VorDaj on October 3, 2012 at 6:23 PM
Yes! A thousand more years! A thousand more years! A thousand more years!
VorDaj on October 3, 2012 at 6:25 PM
Any American who thinks we should keep staying in Afcrapistan either hates the troops or is completely insane.
VorDaj on October 3, 2012 at 6:26 PM
Staying in Afcrapistan is not a strategy, it’s insanity.
VorDaj on October 3, 2012 at 6:27 PM
Human sacrifice 21st Century American style.
It would seem the Aztec High Priests of the 15th century have been reincarnated and are now in full reign at the building some still call the Pentagon.
America’s Generals are now very much like the Aztec High Priests of many centuries ago. The main difference, and it’s a relatively small one, is that instead of continually sacrificing what they regarded as their excess and disposable human property to the Sun God to try to gain benevolence and avoid wrath, America’s Generals keep trying to sacrifice America’s Constitution, and do sacrifice more and more of the lives and limbs of America’s troops, whom they regard as their excess and disposable human property, as well as hundreds of billions of dollars of America’s rapidly shrinking treasure, which although itself is of much lesser importance is still no small matter, to the gods they reverently call “The Prophet Mohammad”, “The Holy Qur’an” and “The Noble People Of Afghanistan and their Noble Muslim Culture” to try to gain benevolence and avoid wrath, and maybe even get an extra star and another few assorted colorful baubles for which to adorn themselves.
Is our military fighting for anything most Americans would regard as at all decent in Afghanistan? Certainly not our Army, nor our Marines. America’s Generals have repeatedly ordered them to respect the gods they call “The Prophet Mohammad”, “The Holy Qur’an” and “The Noble People Of Afghanistan and their Noble Muslim Culture” and if American troops get shot to death by what their Generals call their Partners in Peace, then the Generals conclude that America’s derelict and sacrilegious troops must not have respected the gods they call “The Prophet Mohammad”, “The Holy Qur’an” and “The Noble People Of Afghanistan and their Noble Muslim Culture” nearly enough and order them to take still more religious and cultural “sensitivity” training so they can better respect the Noble Muslim Culture of the Noble People of Afghanistan, maybe even enough where they can start joining in the practicing of that Noble Muslim Culture themselves, which would no doubt delight the Generals to no end.
There of course is never any “sensitivity” training ever even recommended for what America’s Generals call “The Noble People Of Afghanistan” so they might better understand and appreciate Western and American culture. But then as America’s Generals clearly must regard the Noble Muslim Culture of the Noble People of Afghanistan as being far superior to Western and American culture, they would surely regard any such thing as, well, absolutely unthinkable, and blasphemous, and upon hearing any such suggestion would no doubt order even more “sensitivity” training.
* Mainstream Noble People of Afghanistan Muslim Culture includes child rape of both young girls and young boys, torturing dogs including puppies, total enslavement of women, stoning women to death for being raped, and death to apostates, which itself covers a whole lot, just to very briefly mention a few of the highlights.
VorDaj on October 3, 2012 at 6:30 PM
Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups are found throughout the Karzai government. It’s not just a Taliban group, but found worldwide.[/quote]
And the US military continues to fight Islamist groups worldwide. Afghanistan is merely part of the wider war.
I didn’t say anything about supporting Karzai. We may well be better off without him.
DKCZ on October 3, 2012 at 6:38 PM
Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups are found throughout the Karzai government. It’s not just a Taliban group, but found worldwide.
So do we invade Egypt soon?
What about Syria?
We know they are in Libya so should we occupy that nation?
Somalia is a given of course.
I think we may be needing a lot more troops.
What is so special about Afghanistan that doesn’t apply to Egypt as well?
Shades of the South Vietnamese coup?
sharrukin on October 3, 2012 at 6:44 PM
I’m heartened to see all the realistic posts.
If only repairing the damage to American freedoms was as easy as withdrawing from that pesthole could be.
MelonCollie on October 3, 2012 at 6:52 PM