WaPo: War against Taliban is unsuccessful
The Washington Post’s Greg Miller writes this morning that “U.S. military campaign to topple resilient Taliban hasn’t succeeded” of course this is based on a single, unnamed “Defense Department official’s assessment.
The Obama administration’s plan to conduct a strategic review of the war in December has touched off maneuvering between U.S. military leaders seeking support for extending the American troop buildup and skeptics looking for arguments to wind down the nation’s role.
Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has touted the success of recent operations and indicated that the military thinks it will be able to show meaningful progress by the December review. He said last week that progress is occurring “more rapidly than was anticipated” but acknowledged that major obstacles remain.
Well, if the Washington Post is right, they don’t bother to consider that the Obama Administration neglected to honor the assessment of General McCrystal when they gave him half of the troops he requested in 2009. McCrystal warned at the time that refusing to give him sufficient troops would result in exactly these results.
Instead, the Washington Post blames solely the Pakistanis;
A crackdown by Pakistan’s military on those sanctuaries probably would have a greater impact on the war than any option available to Petraeus, officials said. But given the Pakistani government’s long-standing connections to the Haqqani network and the Taliban, a move by Islamabad against those groups is considered unlikely, at least by the administration’s timetable.
Ah, the precious timetable again. This administration considers the war a distraction from the president’s domestic policy and arriving at politically expedient decision in regards to the war is more attractive than the prospect of victory.
I agree that Pakistan’s involvement in the war against the Taliban would be helpful, but given the fact that this administration more willing to throw the allies of democracy undr the bus to demonstrate his commitment to “smart diplomacy” why should the Pakistanis help us?
The current administration’s penchant for a policy of waiting for foreign policy issues to work themselves out has only encouraged our enemies from North Korea to Iran. Our adherence to a timeline rather than total warfare in Afghanistan has done the same for the Taliban.
Maybe if the media would stop praying at the altar of Obama and stop treating this war like a political issue, maybe things would turn in our direction for a change.
Thanks to Jerry920 for sending this link.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Media, Military issues, Terror War
Of course, with your typical myopia, you neglected to notice that Bush took his eye off the ball for several years for his grand Iraq adventure, which allowed the Taliban to rebound. Then he handed the mess off to Obama. Let’s look at ultimate causes here, not just your pet peeves….
“…you neglected to notice that Bush took his eye off the ball for several years for his grand Iraq adventure…”
I seem to recall the majority of the Democrat Party calling for regime change in Iraq in 2002. John Kerry and Hillary Clinton were among two of the most vocal supporting it.
And with your typical myopia, you don’t comprehend the strategic value of taking out the largest supporter of terrorism in the Middle East in Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Not to mention the strategy of surrounding Iran on both sides with countries (Afghanistan and Iraq) liberated from oppressive rule. Not to mention the domino effect of other oppressed nations either giving up their WMD programs (as Libya did) or having their citizens rise up for revolutions (as happened in Iran and Lebanon).
Let’s look at ultimate causes here, not just your pet peeves….
Good idea. The ultimate cause here is simple: Islam. I was fully in support of liberating Afghanistan and Iraq. Where we went wrong was to allow these nations to remain Islamic Republics and to keep Islamic Shari’a law within their Constitutions. Islam should have been banned from their government, just as we banned Shintoism from Japan’s government post-WWII.
Yeah, Michael, they may have called for regime change when they were presented with a bunch of fabricated intel. That was before the truth about WMD, or lack thereof, came out. And please spare me the megalomaniacal grand strategy for the middle east. Sounds like the domino theory from the 60’s, or any number of other failed strategies from Alexander thru Hitler. Islam’s a problem; so is christianity – they’re all totally irrational.
Joe, sometimes trying to address your remarks is like herdin’ cats with helicopters; you have to go in a zillion directions at once.
Let’s start with this one: “ultimate causes” in that part of the world can easily be traced all the way back to WWII. And that’s just when we got involved; the stone-age tribal mentality of that region set the stage for everything that followed.
Bush’s “grand Iraq adventure” was going to have to happen sooner or later. Saddam was a force to be reckoned with.
And honestly, Joe…Bush didn’t “hand off the mess” to anybody. He was leaving office and President Obama came in; it’s NORMAL for the incoming President to inherit the problems of the President leaving office. What did you expect him to do, call the game on account of rain?
PintoNag,
“What did you expect him to do, call the game on account of rain?”
Just reminding Jonn that Obama didn’t start it, didn’t take his eye off the ball for five years, didn’t divert funds meant for Afghanistan towards Iraq. If Jonn can continue to rag on Obama for not saying, “How high?” when McChrystal said, “Jump!”, why doesn’t he rag on Bush and Co. for all their lies, ineptitude and miscalculations, not to mention their breathtaking arrogance?
“Bush’s “grand Iraq adventure” was going to have to happen sooner or later. Saddam was a force to be reckoned with.”
I don’t know how you can say that with such certainty. And I would bet you if you asked any number of Iraqis if they’re better off now than 10 years ago, 95% would say “NO!”.
Joe, did you really just throw in the “he started it” crap?
Wow, cupcake.
Why, is that a problem?
And I would bet you if you asked any number of Iraqis if they’re better off now than 10 years ago, 95% would say “NO!”.
You really believe 95% of Iraqis would say they are NOT better today than 10 years ago (2000) under Saddam? Wow. Just wow. Talk about delusional. I think you’ve just lost any credibility you may have had left with that ridiculous comment.
@Joe-
No, it just confirms what was already known.
… as a side note check out the Captain’s journal, on why the high level targetting campaign is also floundering.