Q: What Are We Doing in Afghanistan? A: "We're still figuring that out."

I hope not all of this is old news. Some of the phrases in this article caught my eye:

We're still figuring out our goals in Afghanistan. That's a good thing. - By Fred Kaplan - Slate Magazine


"How did they come up with this number? This is where the cause for worry begins. It didn't come from any assessment of how many troops are needed for a particular mission. No decisions about a specific mission—an operational goal—have yet been made.

The request for three brigades stems from one fact and one fact only: That's how many brigades will be available this year, as more troops pull out of Iraq.

It's a number based on what we have, not on what we need. It has no substantive rationale."





" When asked what missions the three extra brigades will perform, one Pentagon official said, "All of the missions." Some troops will chase terrorists, some will protect the population, some will train the Afghan army. … But three extra brigades—which, again, is all we can muster in the next year—aren't enough to do all that. (Some officials say that the NATO allies have agreed to up their efforts a bit, now that the popular Obama has replaced the much-loathed Bush, but they're unlikely to muster more than a few thousand troops—perhaps a brigade's worth. The allies could help more in other ways, for instance, in special forces, government administration, and training police. Bush never made such requests; perhaps Obama will.) "



" Then there's the ultimate consideration: Even if everything goes splendidly in Afghanistan, it will count for naught unless the Taliban and al-Qaida are neutralized in neighboring Pakistan—a turbulent state that has nuclear weapons. There isn't much the United States can do about that problem militarily; it's a diplomatic puzzle to be worked out with other powers in the region. Gen. Petraeus will have a role to play in this; so, even more, will special envoy Richard Holbrooke. The issue of how many troops should do what in Afghanistan will be, by comparison, a sideshow—albeit an expensive, and perhaps a necessary, one. "


Thoughts?

__________________
_______

Not sure why anyone went there... it wasn't to get OBL, it certainly wasn't to help people, and it ain't because all our governments just love liberation so damn much either...

...perhaps there's a money trail to follow? Perhaps not.

__________________
Freedom is free - oppression costs money.

Oil pipeline that is being build through Afghanistan and into Uzbekistan.

At least we're spreading good will:

Chemical robs girl of her face, but not her smile - The Globe and Mail

We're not just technologically superior psychos after all.

__________________
Freedom is free - oppression costs money.

On the Offensive
AS U.S. MARINES launched a major offensive in Afghanistan's Taliban-infested Helmand province yesterday, one problem was already apparent: There are not enough troops to properly carry out the Pentagon's new counterinsurgency strategy. The force is "a little light," Marine Brig. Gen. Lawrence D....
(The Washington Post)
washingtonpost.com

Sound familiar?? As I recall, there were some who tried to tell Obama that Afghanistan would be his Viet Nam if he were foolish enough to believe he had "the right stuff" for this job. This is going to make Iraq look like a birthday party.

__________________
The road to truth is long and lined the entire way with annoying bastards

I'm not so sure. I read an article that said Pakistan is moving troops to its border to block Taliban the marines are chasing out of Afghanistan from regrouping in Pakistan. If this effectively limits resupply and reinforcement for the Taliban, the marines may be able to hold on to the ground they take even with this small force. If they can show the Afghans in the towns they are taking that they are there to stay, it might spark another "Sunni Awakening" in Afghanistan as it did in Iraq.

The Afghans have been fighting invaders for centuries.

They have never lost in the long run.

The U.S. will fail just like every other invader has failed throughout history.

__________________
"There is No business, like Shoah business"!!!

Sunni Man, please get your facts right. The Afghan government, the Afghan National Army and the Afghan Security Forces are fighting WITH US and NATO forces...not against them.

Makes your post null and void.

__________________

Dream as if you'll live forever; live as if you'll die tomorrow. ... Make the best of today, for there is no tomorrow until after today

When the British Empire was in Afghanistan. They also set up a puppet Afghan government and army.

What happened?

Disaster!!

The Soviet Union also set up a puppet government and and Afghan army that fought along side them.

Results?

Another disaster.

The U.S. and members have now set up a puppet Afghan government and Army.

Afghan history says this will just be a long and costly failure.

__________________
"There is No business, like Shoah business"!!!

kinda like you, huh?

__________________
Note: Refrigerate after opening.

Typical Dickhead Del troll response

__________________
"There is No business, like Shoah business"!!!

That's your opinion. One not shared by many Afghans.

__________________

Dream as if you'll live forever; live as if you'll die tomorrow. ... Make the best of today, for there is no tomorrow until after today

Back to the problem?

As U.S. MARINES launched a major offensive in Afghanistan's Taliban-infested Helmand province yesterday, one problem was already apparent: There are not enough troops to properly carry out the Pentagon's new counterinsurgency strategy. The force is "a little light," Marine Brig. Gen. Lawrence D. Nicholson, its commander, told national security adviser James L. Jones in a meeting reported by The Post's Bob Woodward. "We don't have enough force to go everywhere."

Those comments will come as no surprise to anyone who has been following the attempts by U.S. commanders to turn around the Afghan war. The idea is to replicate the strategy that finally reversed American fortunes in Iraq: protecting the population rather than seeking out insurgents, while building the economy and political institutions. Though the Bush and Obama administrations approved new troop deployments that will double the U.S. force, the ratio of American and allied Afghan soldiers to the population is still well below that mandated by the Army's new counterinsurgency doctrine.

Gen. Nicholson said his greatest need is for more Afghan troops -- only 500 are joining the new Marine operation, when thousands are needed. But the Afghan army is still relatively small, and, despite a major effort to accelerate training, it is years away from reaching a size that would allow it to operate across the country. That's one reason the recently departed top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David D. McKiernan, requested that a further deployment of 10,000 U.S. troops be scheduled for next year -- and that the present effort to double the size of the Afghan army and police by 2011 be followed by another doubling by 2016. Mr. Woodward quoted one senior commander as saying privately that 100,000 U.S. troops might be needed, compared with the 68,000 currently authorized.
washingtonpost.com


Now, Obama said he was going to "focus on Afghanistan" and "get us out of Iraq". I see no real hurry to get out of Iraq, and Afghanistan is looking like a repeat of Iraq if you ask me. Where is he going to get the troops from?

__________________
The road to truth is long and lined the entire way with annoying bastards

Things are really changing in Afghanistan. When I first went there, women akways walked several paces behind their men. Recently, I noticed that women were now walking several paces in front of their men.

I asked a ANA colleague why this was. "Mines", he said.

__________________

Dream as if you'll live forever; live as if you'll die tomorrow. ... Make the best of today, for there is no tomorrow until after today

Well its quite simple really we are killing as many people as we can, pushing the phoney war on terror, using the country as a training ground for our weapons systems, allowing our forces to torture, murder, rape and steal oh and protecting the oil and gas pipe lines just in case anyone takes control of them.

We award our troops for murdering people, we award industry with fat contracts, we spread hate and fear amongst the populace. Its just like the planet of the apes and were the monkeys.

But when the cameras are rolling we have our troops stage set to look like we are really helping out, that we are all really good guys who would not hurt a fly, of course the locals show their gratitude, what else would you expect then to do when a group of neanderthals turn up armed to the teeth.

Lets face it there are plenty of piss poor countries around the world I don't see these murderers in those countries I wonder why.