Posted on 02/23/2013 9:33:26 AM PST by eagleye85
At a recent Brookings Institution event, Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow there, offered some cogent observations about how the jihadis view the drawdown in Afghanistan.
He said:
Part of it I think is simply this: the smell of blood in the water. There is a perception in Pakistan, and a perception in Afghanistan, that the United States is about to cut and run, that we are about to dump this problem. And with that perception is the perception that the jihad is on the verge of its greatest victory ever, that the defeat of the Soviet Union was one thing, the defeat of America is something even bigger, and that in the aftermath of that we can go on to other conflicts, and that we can take over and hijack the state of Pakistan. Now I think a lot of this is far-fetched. I think it’s fantastical, but it doesn’t matter what I think, it matters what people who are willing to blow themselves up and kill other people think, and they seem to think this. Which is why, as painful as it is, I think that the President has embarked on the right project in Afghanistan, which is to depart in a prudent, cautious, and careful way–and not to just cut and run” (emphasis added).
According to the New York Times, “The United States currently has about 66,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan. NATO and other coalition nations have about 37,000 troops.”
“President Obama has announced that 34,000 United States troops will be removed by February 2014.”
We should have never gone into Afghanistan in the first place. We should have paid the Russians as mercenaries with a total hands off treatment for them to get done, the job we needed to have them do.
They would have cleaned it up easily without the logistical mess. And if they were to stay....all the better.
I think the bottom line is to pretty much recognize that Afghanistan is divided in the middle, North and South. We are more than willing to let the Pushtun South and Pushtun Pakistan duke it out, which they want to do; but in the non-Pushtun North of the country, in a fairly quiet way, we have built a $100 million intelligence gathering base in Mazar-al-Sharif. Because that is where we want to be.
Why? Because in that one spot, we can spy on six different countries. A location worth a vast fortune.
When we started the war, there were about 30,000 Taliban and al-Qaeda to fight. While they have been murderously scrubbed, for almost every year we have been there, their numbers have remained at 30,000. That is, they have a perpetual resupply of fighters from the Pakistani madrassas.
However, the Taliban likely cannot support an army *larger* than 30,000, either. Which means that the cruddy Afghan army still outnumbers them. And as long as there is a stalemate, we win.
The solution is actually quite simple - - agent orange the entire place on the way out. We win.
“See ya later, Stinktown.”
They would have cleaned it up easily without the logistical mess. And if they were to stay....all the better.
Huh? Do you remember the 1970s?
Just in case you don't, the Russians WERE there, and they LOST.
Mark
:: President Obama has announced that 34,000 United States troops will be removed by February 2014 ::
Yet the father of my grandchildren (SIL) is being REDPLOYED to Ghanny in the next few months. He’s infantry and boots-on-the-ground soldier.
REDPLOYED to Ghanny
............
What or where is Ghanny? Do you mean Ghana?
Pronounced “guh-HANNY”
Af-ghanny-stan.
According to my SIL, it is more PC than saying “rag-head-istan”; among themselves, they still call the hostiles “rags”.
The Rooskies invaded Afghanistan while Jimmy Carter protested.
We armed the opposition, and it turned into a stalemate.
If we paid them to go in there, gave them carte blanche to do whatever was necessary, we wouldn’t be where we are now.
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