In the aftermath of the attack of fundamentalist Muslims on the World Trade center in New York City, the US was faced with a problem. The attack had been carried out by Saudi nationals — and Saudi Arabia is a friend of convenience, so we couldn’t attack them. Some of the Wahhabists had been trained in Afghanistan and the Taliban government in power at the time was a fundamentalist Islamic government. They offered aid and comfort to the men from al Qaeda. An invasion wouldn’t ruffle THAT many international feathers and once the US was in place, we would hold a very strategic piece of real estate.
barack hussein obama, in search of a war he could call his own, adopted the war in Afghanistan and decried “President Bush’s War” in Iraq. Even though barack obama might have been a good civil agitator and community organizer in Chicago, he’s been found inept at everything else he’s done, include finding the ability to (a) understand the war in Afghanistan, and once understood, to (b) frame it in the appropriate context.
  1. Afghanistan is a small war, not a major war. 
  2. Small wars are best fought with small footprints
  3. Failure in Afghanistan isn’t when the US fails to achieve stability and peace, rather failure is achieved when stability and peace in Afghanistan allows regional acceptance for control of Afghanistan to be achieved by forces intent on terrorist activities outside of Afghanistan.
We have a role to play geopolitically in the Asian Subcontinent whether we like it or not and as with Iraq, “you broke it, you bought it”. 
barack hussein obama made a major mistake to put Afghanistan as a cornerstone of US foreign policy, and setting any timetable for withdrawal is foolish. There will be violence in Afghanistan in my grandchildren’s lifetime in much as there was violence there in my grandparent’s lifetime. So what?
America needs to keep troops there with an eye toward a LONG process of nation building, not a quick shoot and scoot. That’s the only way we’ll be successful. Surges come and surges go, but everyone in the region who is NOT an American waits to see if we’ll commit to working with the problem. And nobody has anymore faith in obama there than the American people do at home.

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7 COMMENTS

  1. LL:

    Please elaborate…

    Facially it seems as if you have contradicted yourself by first stating that Afghanistan is a small war and small wars require small footprints and then writing that "America needs to keep troops there with an eye toward a LONG process of nation building, not a quick shoot and scoot. That's the only way we'll be successful."

    In light of Afghanistan's very long history as a graveyard of empires
    My view since late 2001 is that our campaign there should always have been a Special Operations surgical operation designed to kill as many Qaeda operators as possible and then get the hell out. The only thing Afghanis seem to hate more than each other is an outside occupying force.

  2. LA – American commitments regionally, principally to India and the "you broke it, you bought it" force us to remain as a component of a nation building force. At present we are an occupying force and that won't work long term for us any more than it did for the Greeks, the Russians, the British, etc. Note Item #3.

    The present philosophy calls for crushing the Taliban and then leaving a force to manage nation building (sort of what I proposed) – but the present administration wants a deadline for withdrawal and that's always a bad idea.

    We've done so much damage to our allies and they are in tough financial straights too, that I don't know who will go it with us.

  3. Our allies help us out because we support them. When b.a. pisses away ALL of our money, who will support us then? He keeps saying that all the bad things in the world are our fault. When we pull out it should be interesting.

  4. WoFat, the sad truth is that we are responsible for a lot of BS and we are not often true and faithful to our friends. Barack Hussein Obama set out to insult or damage all friendships and cultivate the 'love' of those who have sworn to destroy us in his naive march toward world socialism….when all of the socialists are turning to capitalism.

  5. He will show us as weak around the world until he gets what he wants … we being weak around the world.

  6. Can HE even really be considered having been a "good civil agitator and community organizer in Chigaco,"? I think that is a myth too…one that should be (wake up MSM) debunked by 2012.

    …to say he is in way over his head, would discourage people who are in way in over their heads.

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