What is going on here? Is this being coordinated with Obama and his national security team? In any case, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen is talking about doubling the number of US troops in Afghanistan. See U.S. to Send Up to 30,000 More Troops to Afghanistan PBS Newshour 12/22/08 EEUU se plantea duplicar en los próximos seis meses su contingente en Afganistán El Mundo 20.12.2008.
El Mundo says that there are now 31,000 US troops in Afghanistan. It seems that every time I see a count, it's going up. And if the Pentagon carries out its current plans, that's going to be happening for a while. Mullen is talking about a 12-to-18-month time frame for this.
Without a new strategy, that includes a meaningful plan and timeline for an exit, and an exit in something less than the next 30 years or so, this is crazy.
I wonder if this is some scheme to lock in a Cheney-Bush strategy of some sort in a way they think will force it down Obama's throat. But Obama has said all along he intends to escalate in Afghanistan. So he's soon going to own the Afghanistan War, for better or worse.
Following the strategy that became part of The Surge in Iraq, the Pentagon is also talking about arming local insurgent groups in Afghanistan that are willing to ally with the US and NATO. You know, like we did in arming the
President Hamid Karzai, to the extent he actually has anything to say about it, is not enthusiastic about putting any more US troops in his country. After a while, even a president totally dependent on the United States for his survival can get testy about repeated missile strikes on villages and wedding parties that kill civilian noncombatants.
Tags: afghanistan war
1 comment:
Bruce,
You ever get the feeling its 1964-65 all over again??
In 1964, LBJ had just won the biggest landslide in decades and his mandate to lead the nation was secure. Of course, he was hemmed in by the Vietnam mess those "pissant" Kennedy brothers left in his lap (and Bobby was still in the govt---pressing him daily).
So, when faced with the choice to escalate in Vietnam - to go for the win so to speak - it was almost ordained.
Fast forward almost exactly 45 years. It sure looks like we're going to do it again. Even after we helped consign the Soviet Frickin Union to the "dustbin of history" by trapping them into an unwinnable war in Afghanistan!!!
Unbelievable. It seems our only hope is for a faster and deeper financial implosion so we simply cannot afford to keep it up over there.
What a frickin choice.
SP
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