Giving up the ghost in Afghanistan
From our buddy, Kate, at The Victory Girls, that guy we reelected as President two months ago has decided that our efforts in Afghanistan have “fallen short of the ideal”. Dan Fromkin at Huffington Post wonders, along with the rest of us “How Many Dead and Wounded Soldiers Ago Did Obama Give Up on Afghanistan?” Fred Kaplan at Salon reports;
When one reporter asked if our accomplishments in this war had been worth all the bloodshed, Obama recalled the reason we intervened in Afghanistan in the first place—the 3,000 Americans killed on Sept. 11, 2001, as a result of an attack that al-Qaida had planned on Afghan soil. Our “central goal” ever since, he said, has been to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaida while also bringing Osama bin Laden to justice. Mission accomplished.
But this answer was misleading. It sidestepped the fact that, at the end of 2009, Obama sent an additional 33,000 troops to Afghanistan, a surge of nearly 50 percent above the 68,000 already there—and that he did so not to go after bin Laden and al-Qaida (a task that could have been handled with far fewer forces) but rather to pursue a counterinsurgency strategy, at least in the cities, particularly in the southern districts.
The CIA warned president Obama in 2009 that if he didn’t give the generals the 60,000 troops they asked for, the strategy in Afghanistan would fail. He gave them 33,000 and *viola*, the Biden robot ninja zombie strategy failed. Froomkin’s question is valid – did the Obama Administration let US troops die in Afghanistan just to portray himself as a “wartime” President for the election? You know, like he portrayed himself as a pro-gun President until after the election?
During the speech from The Victory Girls’ quote, Obama goes both ways on the success of operations in Afghanistan;
“Did we achieve our central goal? And have we been able, I think, to shape a strong relationship with a responsible Afghan government that is willing to cooperate with us to make sure that it is not a launching pad for future attacks against the United States? We have achieved that goal. We are in the process of achieving that goal.
Emphasis is mine.
So have we achieved the goal or are we in the process of achieving the goal? Which is it?
I’ve been warning since 2009 that the war in Afghanistan was just another aspect of the Obama/Biden campaign. I asked who wanted to be the last to die for Obama/Biden 2012.
So, I’m wondering why the troops are still there if the administration has given up the mission there? Why wait until 2014 – the election is over with. Jerk ’em all out now. Well, unless he’s going to fart around until after the midterm elections and secure some more seats in Congress with the blood of our troops.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Terror War
Now I dare any liberal to come in here and tell me that Obama isn’t standing on the dead and wounded bodies of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for political points.
Come on, try.
I stand with Sparky….
Wait, why did we go there in the first place? To get Bin Laden and the assholes that planned 9-11. We lost the goal or reason and flounder. I say get out, then bomb the shit out of the place to clean it up really good.
I find the joint statement at the WH website a bit confusing and perplexing in light of Barry and Karzai’s meeting 8-10 January. It all sounds good, but not realistic. The reality is that the ANSF isn’t (and won’t be) prepared to take on the security role, and Karzai’s gov’t is entrenched in corruption. That, coupled with the widely dispersed tribal regions (who’ve made it clear that they DON’T want to be governed by the incumbent government) seems like it will all unravel once we leave anyway, and keeping our forces there is just a bandaid from it happening in 2014-15, if not sooner.
While I realise some folks are fwd deployed possibly read our comments, my intention is not to corrupt morale, because we DO support them and the mission. I just wish for them they would get home NOW because they’ve done a magnificent job in spite of all the politics involved. We should cut the umbilical cord with AFG once and for all. Our only interest in the region should be brining our troops home, and leave Karzai and the rest to their own devices.
Either way, my prediction is the place will lapse to its backward-ass thinking of the 7th century, which is how they prefer it anyway. Fuck ’em.
The WH will punt the A’stan conundrum to the next administration. Just muddle through and keep the Karzai regime propped up until Jan 2017…let the next President make the gut wrenching final no shit decision to withdraw forces.
Agreeably, the A’stan conundrum will go on for awhile, but I don’t see Karazai sticking it out that long. I suspect he will cut and run first opportunity he gets to keep his head on his shoulders.
“Winning” in every sense of the sheen definition…
In the beginning we had just maybe 250 troops in country
( special operations forces ) and CIA types, with air
support. And some help from the Northern Alliance. In just months they killed Al-Qaida and Talaban leaders all over the country. And they did it by targeting them at night, houses
where they slept, paint the house with a laser, air support
would come in no more Talaban/Al-Qaida. They were so
successful they drove them out of the country, and almost
got bin laden. It’s time to leave, passed time to leave. The
Talaban are going to come back and Afghanistan will be,
Afghanistan in name only. It will be part of Pakistan, we
have to stop trying to nation build, it didn’t work in
Vietnam and it will not work here.
The biggest thing I will never forgive this administration for is pissing away all the work that men better than them did. When Obama took office he was given two wars that were being won and now beginning his second term he pissed away Iraq and has done everything to piss away Afghanistan.
@JPJason, the guy doesn’t have a clue about leadership.
When he signs something, he looks like he’s thinking “I am SO cool signing this, just like I’m the President.”
The war against militant Islam was lost when Barack (Mohammed’s horses name) Hussein (The name of several Prophets and descendents of Mohammed) Obama was selected and then elected as POTUS.
Islam attacked America and killed 3,000 The Nation spent eight years at war and winning then elected a man with an Islamic name as POTUS and the nation lost that war.
Obama is changing the United states into a different nation with a whole different set of ideals and ideology throwing the Constitution and the bill of rights in the gutter so Bill Ayers can stand on it as well as the flag.
The same Bill Ayers who attempted to blow up American troops and police during the Vietnam era the same Ayers who stated in his book and manifesto he was willing to kill 25 Million citizens of the United States to implement his manifesto and he is the mentor and writer of Obama’s book. Bill also controls the Education of this generation of children.
Yes, The United States lost the war when Obama was elected, and every American service member killed, maimed and injured was wasted deliberately by the democrat party and their supporters, voters for political reasons.
If I was a young man I would not join the military or go fight any wars under POTUS Barack Hussein Obama aka Barry soretero, aka Choomey.
The democrats wanted another Vietnam and they got one now every American is being punished for going to war in afagistan and Iraq as well as Vietnam and for being racists who owned slaves 140 something years ago.
The main most sickening item is, POTUS Obama thinks he is some kind of Lincoln type figure if not Lincoln reincarnated.
We ain’t seen nothing yet.
At some point, the combat ends. Unless America owns the ground in the same manner the Union owned Richmond in June 1865, or Tokyo in January, 1946 – thoroughly, with no questions asked or answered – there’s going to be the lamentation on the number of lives wasted in war.
Compare Cowboys fans to Ravens fans. Cowboys fans are lamenting the Romosexuals’ hold over the team, while the Ravens fans are stocking up on Lewis and Flacco jerseys.
We should squish all lamentations of supposed wasted deaths – we should actively, appropriate celebrate those who gave their lives in pursuit of victory.