No, not that one.
Now that I have your attention, though, I think it best to remind everyone that carping at President Obama for his announcement of an American pullout from Afghanistan by 2014 is simply a waste of time. No American president of either party would have been able to stay longer, because Afghan President Hamid Karzai wants us out and wants a deal with the Talibs.
That what is good for Karzai is terrible for his and our country matters nothing to him.
Whether we like it or not, a new phase in the battele with the Taliban is soon to begin: basically a proxy war that pits the Pakistani ISI against us. The Afghans, once again, our caught in the middle. While elitist and posers enjoy warbling about Afghanistan resisting all foreign occupiers throughout its history, they tend to ignore that, for the most part, Afghans have never been able to unite, either. Thus, while foreign troops come and go, foreign influence is eternal there.
We are headed for a 21st Century version of the Great Game, with the U.S. and India on one side (against the Talibs), Pakistan and Communist China on the other (with the Talibs and Karzai), and Russia eagerly trying to leverage both of us.
We will need to make sure the anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan triumph (simplistically, the non-Pashtuns; more accurately, the tenuous coalition that controls the Afghan Parliament), and remind everyone that the Taliban and al Qaeda are still joined at the hip (especially the Russians, who tend to let their Anti-American ADHD get in the way of maneuvering against the allies of Chechnya’s rebels).
So, rather than rip President Obama for choosing the inevitable withdrawal, we should instead rip hm for his refusal to say anything about how to help Afghanistan defeat the Taliban. He seems to think that just handing over the reigns will answer the mail – meaning he either doesn’t realize Karzai’s actual intentions, or he just doesn’t care.
That is the real problem with Obama’s policy of Afghanistan.
Cross-posted to Bearing Drift
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Dear RWL – Do you really think for a minute that Karzai could give a damn as to what Obama advises? At this point, dont you think that Obama advice to the Afghanis reaches the level of an insult? Arent your comments a stretch more of finding another way to rip into Obama? In retrospect, it seems evident that Bush should never have gone into Afghanistan in the first place, and especially given that Russia couldnt beat them so how could anyone expect the US to do this? (the snarling Cheney had some agenda but it wasnt ours)…Why didnt Bush do what Obama did about 3 weeks ago?
Ken, do you actually read my posts?
I specifically said the troops are going because Karzai wants them out. I never said Obama could talk Karzai into letting them stay longer, and in fact, I don’t think he can.
I do find it interesting that you’d rather we let the Taliban stay in power in Afghanistan while they were sheltering OBL. o much for Afghanistan being the “good” lefty war.
Oh, and the folks who beat the Russians were actually what became the Northern Alliance. They were the ones fighting the Taliban, which to most Afghans is just a Pakistani proxy.
I never said that Obama wanted to talk Karzai into anything……..i said Karzai could care less what Obama had to say, and irrespective of which part of Afghanistan was at war with Russia, it was damn stupid of us to take on the whole country and not just go in and snipe Osama Bin Laden……………..we did what many of us do now with illegal immigrants…………….stop them all in hopes of finding dangerous illegals………..another dumb tactic. I dont read a lot of your columns, and granted, you have informed opinions on many subjects, but not on this one!!!
I guess we’re in violent agreement in re Obama and Karzai.
However, you missed my point on Afghanistan in general. We weren’t “taking on the whole country.” We had friends, and we still do. I would just like to see Obama notice that we have friends and help them. Then again, he didn’t do that during the fraudulent 2009 Prez election there, either.
The only thing that will ver clean up Afghanistan is a massive bomb…….as soon as Karzai gets total control he can go into the opium business………..
I think there is only one question we need to ask ourselves about the Afghan War… Are we willing to invade Pakistan, because it is the new Cambodia, ala Vietnam War…
I think that really is the bottom line, to try and end the war… and are we going to occupy Pakistan?
[...] ended, and the withdrawal fom Afghanistan was predestined not by Paul, Romney, or Obama, but Hamid Karzai, who wants our troops out yesterday (this is also why I have refused to hit Obama too hard for [...]