Obama's Afghanistan Surge--A Primer
By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
President Obama announced his new Afghan strategy today, with significantly higher funding and more troops to the region.
As my colleague Anna Mulrine has reported, one of the biggest hurdles facing Obama's plans is the endemic corruption in the Afghan government:
But behind the scenes, some senior U.S. military officials are cautioning that a civilian surge will bring little progress until something is done about the pervasive corruption within the Afghan government. Some military officials recently raised the corruption issue with a senior aide to special envoy Richard Holbrooke—President Obama's top troubleshooter for the Afghan war—on a fact-finding mission in Kabul.
More broadly, the debate over an Afghan surge continues, as it has in this space for some time.
For a good primer on the debate, I commend you to military historian Andrew Bacevich's article arguing that it won't be worth the cost in blood and treasure and to the Center for a New American Security's John Nagl arguing that done right, the surge can and will work.
Will the Afghan surge work? Weigh in here.
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Reader Comments
OBAMA;S AFGHANISTAN SURGE
DON'T SEND ANYMORE TROOPS - - UNLESS YOU SEND A SUFFICIENT NUMBER TO GET THE JOB COMPLETED AND UNLESS THEY ARE FURNISHED ADEQUATE TRAINING FOR THAT AREA AND TERRAIN AS WELL AS PROPER WEAPONRY,EQUIPMENT, AND PROTECTIVE GEAR AS WELL AS
ESTABLISHED SUPPLY LINES OPEN TO SUSTAIN THEM FOR THE DURATION OF TIME REQUIRED TO W I N!! DON'T DEPEND ON ANY OF THESE "FRIENDLY" COUNTRIES THAT OFFER THEIR ASSISTANCE, THEN LEAVE OUR TROOPS HIGH AND DRY.
Afghanistan and War
There is no way that the americans can bring democracy and middle class values to this tribal helpless and hopeless backward country permeated with narcotic afflictions for hundreds if not thousands of years.....a victim of their own misguided leaders.....and total submission to the powers that be.....the name of the game is religious slavery.....we came to america to get away from this diaease and we do not need to go back.....period..
liars
I coulda swore Obama was pushing the non-intervention agenda during the election. Did everyone forget about that? I'm sick of corporate america electing professional liars, the best thing we can do is forget these politicians exist and ignore them as much as possible.
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