Posted on 09/21/2009 9:50:02 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan warned President Barack Obama in a confidential report that the war against the Taliban could be lost within a year without more troops.
In a grim assessment of the eight-year conflict leaked to the Washington Post and published Monday, General Stanley McChrystal said a new strategy was needed and warned that "inadequate resources will likely result in failure.
"Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) -- while Afghan security capacity matures -- risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible," he wrote.
The report was presented to Defense Secretary Robert Gates on August 30 and is being reviewed by the White House, with McChrystal widely expected to make a formal request to increase the 62,000-strong US force.
McChrystal, who assumed command of international troops in Afghanistan in June, said the campaign in Afghanistan "has been historically under-resourced and remains so today."
This fact risks "a longer conflict, greater casualties, higher overall costs, and ultimately, a critical loss of political support. Any of these risks, in turn, are likely to result in mission failure," he wrote.
The 66-page document -- a declassified version of which is published at www.washingtonpost.com -- describes a strengthening, intelligent Taliban insurgency.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Gee... BHO was hoping for 6 months.
Didn’t this McChrystal guy only just take over!?
What were his predecessors doing??
WaPo pdf file
It’s 1965 again...and Obama is playing the role of LBJ.
But,but I thought this was the right war, the good war.....every pundit, anti-American and anti-War person said so. What happened.................????
Muslim CIC ordering our Marines to not shoot back with Islamo-Rules of Engagement.
I hope Judge Carter and maybe one or two other honest judges are paying attention.
Graphic on the number of troops serving with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. US General Stanley McChrystal -- the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan -- has warned President Barack Obama in a confidential report that the war against the Taliban could be lost within a year without more troops. (AFP Graphic)
I've been saying for years Iraq was the easy war, do they WANT to listen? Nah.
Pull us out of the war we're winning and get us in deeper in the war we're losing, now that's change you can believe in!
Afghan President Hamid Karzai extended an olive branch Sunday to Taliban militants trying to overthrow his Western-backed government as he marked the start of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival. (AFPTV)
What exactly is the "mission" anyway, chief?
I can see Zero now, in a basement room of the White House, picking out airstrike targets on a big floor map.
Where are the peace demonstrations in major cities?
Why isn't Code Punk calling for impeachment?
afp
“.... leaked to the Washington Post....)
During a time of war, these leakers should be hunted down and killed on the spot.
Those that receive and then irresponsibly publish the leaks, should meet the same fate.
Obama’s endgame discussed by a military chief...
Geezuz - why are reports like this being made public??
Talk about a propaganda windfall for the taliban.
We need to get our minds around the fact that there is a strong justification for assigning collective responsibility for any tribe(s) in Afghanistan that supports al Queda.
We can't bomb them into the stone age but we may just have to obliterate whole tribes to wipe out those who support our enemies.
Naw, you’re just a clear thinking individual!
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