Unfinished business as Afghan drawdown nears
The United States is set to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in July.
The United States is set to begin drawing down more than 100,000 troops from Afghanistan in July but questions persist as to whether the nearly 10-year-old war has accomplished its main objective - eliminating the Taliban as a political and military force that can provide safe haven for terrorist groups.
"It appears a lot of people have forgotten the goals of 2001 when the U.S. initially went into Afghanistan. It seemed then everybody believed it was possible to defeat the Taliban. That no longer seems to be the prevailing belief," CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan said on "The Early Show" Tuesday.
The reason for the Taliban's apparent resilience comes from its leadership's ability to remain unscathed by U.S. attacks, finding protection in the border region of neighboring Pakistan, Logan said.
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"Any military officer that goes through West Point training academy, one of the first and most important things that [they're] taught is to defeat the enemy in the fight, they have to destroy the command of control. To that question, what is the command of the control in the Taliban? The key leadership running this war? They're untouched. They haven't paid the price for this fight because they're across the border in Pakistan where they enjoy relative safety and ease of operation," Logan said.
"What you're doing with this withdrawal is you're leaving the battlefield without your main objective being accomplished and that is a question that seems to get overlook in the political debate that's governing this decision at this point."
In an interview with Hearst Television Monday, President Barack Obama confirmed the plan to begin withdrawing American forces, with the vast majority returning home by the end of 2014. Mr. Obama said that with the killing of Osama bin Laden, a "big chunk of our mission" had been accomplished and the U.S. withdrawal could be accelerated as a result.
However, the pace and scope of the withdrawal is undetermined and Mr. Obama is expected to get resistance to an immediate, drastic drawdown from his military commanders, particularly outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates, reports Logan.
Instead, American commanders are expected to favor a slower withdrawal that increases sharply toward the end of the Dec. 31, 2014 deadline so the current surge strategy can have more of a chance to work.
The counterargument is that the slower drawdown would be politically and economically unsustainable
Gates, in Afghanistan for his final visit with troops there, touted the surge's success, saying that the U.S. was on track to deliver a decisive blow against the Taliban. Gates is retiring June 30.
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The BAD became even WORSE when America supported Osama Bin Laden and the anti-communist Mugahidin forces with finance and equipment SOLELY for the propose to kill as many Russians as they can.
All that is left for me to say is;" America you broke it, you bought it".
America can never leave Afghanistan,and Iraq.
You know, I think that "here in America" we have even a bigger problem than what you call "MoronGelical Christians." This problem is the people who compare Evangelical Christians to Taliban. (However, in my opinion, even such individuals, are not as dangerous for us as the Taliban itself. They are just fools who think that "enemy of my enemy is my friend. This is a potentially treatable disorder).
Not our objective, wink wink nod nod? Can't win the minds and hearts if we destroy their main source of economic viability?
Epic fail.
I think we should not spend our time and energy contemplaiting solutions that are simply no workable:
1.If Pakistan is to be returned to India, I would feel first of all sorry for India.
2.This suggestion is even less realistic than saying: "let us invade Pakistan the way we invaded Iraq."
3. What do you mean "Those who disagree should be exterminated wholesale?" This sounds not only cruel,it also sounds unrealistic.
4. I would agree, however, that it may come to point of us having to target a specific large group (i.e. Taliban) into a massive warfare, even on the Pakistani soil. We may eventually have to what Israel does with Hisbolla, but obviously on a larger scale. But this cannot be done without simultaneously cultivating the pro-American thinking. Even if this means infiltrating their mindset. Between "wahabism" and "ayatolism" Islamic extremists attack us everywhere, right and left. They attack our soldiers, our civilians, our allies, their own civilians, and then give us guilt trips, it is appealing to our democratic values, to our fears. And it is working, unfortunately. They infiltrate our minds, essentially. We need to urgently start thinking of how to do the same. There is no question it would not be easy. But we got to think outside of the box.
Not all Muslims, of course, but certainly those in Al-Qeida would not stop seing us as an enemy simply if we would revert to "minding our business." The war is not over for them, until the whole world is under their flag. We need to be more engaged in this war, not less. (I think we need to do many other things, however, such as cultivating a peaceful religious alternative to Taliban. This too is a must).
www.total-privacy.no.tc
Blaming Religion for you being a loser is not going to work anymore.
You and Obama need to come up with something new.