Posted on 07/20/2008 12:35:10 AM PDT by Zakeet
With the two presidential hopefuls arguing over how to fight the Afghan war, and one of them currently in the battle-scarred country - the Bush administration recently held a secret meeting to brainstorm how to win it.
U.S. intelligence officials summoned top Afghanistan experts to Virginia, including ex-ground commander Army Lt. Gen. David Barno, to chart a plan for victory, the Daily News has learned.
One point several of the experts agreed on: Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama are clueless about the seven-year war, because each wants a troop surge. "Both candidates putting so much emphasis on troop numbers in Afghanistan have illustrated they have not grasped what the problem is," said New York University scholar Barnett Rubin, who attended the brainstorming summit.
[Snip]
The problem really is in neighboring Pakistan, where Taliban and Al Qaeda commanders lurk, said Rubin, an informal Obama adviser. "If you add more troops in Afghanistan, you'll probably just lead to more [Taliban] recruitment," he said.
The two candidates also fail to recognize that to win, troops need to mingle more with the locals, Naval Postgraduate School scholar Thomas Johnson said. "We have to go and find out what the people want, and then deliver on that," Johnson said. "The Taliban are operating like this seven days a week."
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
The winning strategy is to eliminate the supply of Taliban recruits.
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