Obama Calling it Quits on Afghanistan--and Redefining Why We ever went

[gatorev12]

If there were any doubts, President Obama’s press conference today with Afghan president Hamid Karzai should dispel them: We are so out of there, at least as a full-bore fighting force, and sooner than previously scheduled.

NATO had planned, with Karzai’s assent, to pull out all Western combat forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. But Obama said today that he will scale back U.S. troops to a “support role” starting this spring—that is, sometime in the next few months. From then on, he said, Afghan forces “will take the lead,” while “the nature of our work will be a training, assisting, and advising role.”

Obama spun the news as a victory lap. “It will be a historic moment,” he proclaimed, “another step toward full Afghan sovereignty.” That’s one way to put it.
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. This strategy involved not only killing and capturing bad guys but also helping to reform the Afghan government and providing the people with basic services—in short, nation-building. What Obama didn’t mention is that this surge and this strategy were not a success.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_a...s_pulling.html


Pretty good article on slate. Can't believe I find myself in agreement with Joe Biden...

[HALLGATOR]

Anyone taking odds on how long it will be before the Taliban take the country back over?

[wargunfan]

We should start a pool on how long it will take Karzai to skip the country with the Afghan national treasury safely tucked away in Switzerland. If he hangs around more than a few days after US forces pull out, one of his body guards (a Taliban plant) is going to empty an AK47 magazine into him. I'll take the first guess: three days.

[g8orbill]

Originally Posted by HALLGATOR

Anyone taking odds on how long it will be before the Taliban take the country back over?

less than 6 months

[wargunfan]

On another note: Will another major power ever try to make a nation out of the pustule that is Afghanistan? Obama certainly failed to do so. As far as I'm concerned when the Afghan army started killing our troops it was time to leave.

[Allanon]

Originally Posted by wargunfan

On another note: Will another major power ever try to make a nation out of the pustule that is Afghanistan? Obama certainly failed to do so. As far as I'm concerned when the Afghan army started killing our troops it was time to leave.

Well, the Soviet Union couldn't do it. The British Empire couldn't do it. If you don't learn from history then you are doomed to repeat it.

[gatorev12]

Originally Posted by HALLGATOR

Anyone taking odds on how long it will be before the Taliban take the country back over?

I doubt the Taliban manages to retake the entire country again since the northern and western regions of that country have historically been viciously opposed to Taliban rule--but their power/influence will grow in the Pashtun regions of eastern and southern Afghanistan.

Even then, the Taliban have worn out their welcome for most. Afghans may not like the US or Western forces in their country, but they certainly aren't keen on the idea of the Taliban returning.

Most likely, Afghanistan dissolves into a Somalia-type existence wherein the borders are fairly well-defined, but numerous warlords all over the country fight for local power in the south and east--while some semblance of national government attempts to form in the north and west, but never strong enough to unite the entire nation.

[gatorjack]

Good analysis, Rev.

[ChartsandGrafs]

I suspect the ruling elites have decided that there's little left for them to milk from the Afghanistan angle of the larger 9/11 false flag scam. It's probably time to focus our forces and efforts pushing the hegemonic boundaries of our neocolonial empire in some other direction.

The Puppet-in-Chief is just doing as he is directed.

[co_gator89]

It was time to get out as soon as soon as the first bullet entered Bin Laden's skull. Bring the troops home from there, Pakistan, Kuwait, and from countries where we haven't been fighting anyone for 60+ years but never left like Germany, Korea, and Japan.

[ChartsandGrafs]

Originally Posted by co_gator89

It was time to get out as soon as soon as the first bullet entered Bin Laden's skull.

Rather, it was time to get out as soon we put out the phoney baloney story that this alleged Osama bin Laden killing ever took place.

[G8trGr8t]

Originally Posted by ChartsandGrafs

I suspect the ruling elites have decided that there's little left for them to milk from the Afghanistan angle of the larger 9/11 false flag scam. It's probably time to focus our forces and efforts pushing the hegemonic boundaries of our neocolonial empire in some other direction.

The Puppet-in-Chief is just doing as he is directed.

there are incredible copper and other mineral deposits there so don't think it is because there is nothing left worth taking

[ChartsandGrafs]

Originally Posted by G8trGr8t

there are incredible copper and other mineral deposits there so don't think it is because there is nothing left worth taking

Multinational corporations and their contractors/mercenaries can take care of resource extraction and security. The U.S. military doesn't need to hang around for that, especially when they've got that pro-U.S. puppet government in place.

[cocodrilo]

Originally Posted by ChartsandGrafs

Multinational corporations and their contractors/mercenaries can take care of resource extraction and security. The U.S. military doesn't need to hang around for that, especially when they've got that pro-U.S. puppet government in place.

I think you may be right. The MIC was mainly interested in making all it possibly could off another war. It was the neocons who took over the government in 2000 who wanted to go over there and stay ("Pax Americana" and "expanding the zones of democratic peace" and other such imperialistic PNAC BS), but fortunately they are out of power at least for now, though inexplicably not disgraced. Their hope for a return to power is Marco Rubio.

[ChartsandGrafs]

Originally Posted by cocodrilo

I think you may be right. The MIC was mainly interested in making all it possibly could off another war. It was the neocons who took over the government in 2000 who wanted to go over there and stay ("Pax Americana" and "expanding the zones of democratic peace" and other such imperialistic PNAC BS), but fortunately they are out of power at least for now, though inexplicably not disgraced. Their hope for a return to power is Marco Rubio.

I don't believe the Obama administration represents any meaningful shift from the neocon agenda, and by neocon agenda, I mean the agenda of the Zionist U.S. shadow government (MIC)/New York finance oligarchy. So while the neocons appear to be out of power, the pursuit of their broader globalist agenda still marches on under the "Hope and Change" banner. That's why Obama's first term looked almost exactly like a George W. Bush third term.

There's simply nothing left to do in Afghanistan and it was getting harder and harder for them to justify this ridiculous, decade-long occupation. The question is, "what's next?".

[gatorev12]

Originally Posted by ChartsandGrafs

I don't believe the Obama administration represents any meaningful shift from the neocon agenda, and by neocon agenda, I mean the agenda of the Zionist U.S. shadow government (MIC)/New York finance oligarchy. So while the neocons appear to be out of power, the pursuit of their broader globalist agenda still marches on under the "Hope and Change" banner. That's why Obama's first term looked almost exactly like a George W. Bush third term.

There's simply nothing left to do in Afghanistan and it was getting harder and harder for them to justify this ridiculous, decade-long occupation. The question is, "what's next?".

You're forgetting the *real* powers that be in this whole sordid affair: Disney.

Lord only knows what that mouse has up his sleeve, but it's downright scary to speculate about online.

[gatorev12]

Originally Posted by G8trGr8t

there are incredible copper and other mineral deposits there so don't think it is because there is nothing left worth taking

I doubt those minerals will ever really be accessed--there's very little in the way of infrastructure to ship the minerals to the outside world...and even if there were efforts made in that arena, it's highly likely warring factions/clans would do everything they could to extort the mining companies to the point of where it wouldn't be profitable.

[Swampmaster]

the country is unconquerable---filled with savages--the US should have left long ago

[dangolegators]

Glad we're getting out.

[g8orbill]

one of the few decisions the 47%ers prez has made that I agree with-it is past time to get out and not lose any more of our soldiers