Legal Commentary

We Are Not Winning in Afghanistan

By Jeralyn

Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress today we are not winning in Afghanistan.

Mullen and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates appeared before the House Armed Services Committee a day after President Bush announced that the U.S. would increase its presence in Afghanistan by 1,500 troops. Gates, who focused on Iraq, told the committee he thought that the U.S. strategy in Iraq has "entered that end game."

Their testimony was a public airing of a discussion that's going on within the Pentagon about how quickly the military can shift its focus from Iraq to Afghanistan. While violence has dropped precipitously in Iraq, it's climbed in Afghanistan. U.S. troop deaths there are higher than Iraq now, despite a far smaller presence. In addition, insurgent groups increasingly are taking control of villages.

Mullen thinks we can win in Afghanistan with more troops and a different strategy. We are not going to save Afghanistan no matter how many troops we put there. [More...]

One of TalkLeft's readers has spent a lot of time there, including recently. In his/her opinion, as stated in comments on another thread:

First of all, Kabul is surrounded on three sides. The Taliban controls the entire south of the country. Herat is overrun with mafia types. The eastern part of the country is now falling. We can't control one border point. The map in Afghanistan will probably look like it did on Sept 10, 2001 in the near future - the Taliban will control the country except for the North, around Mazar-i-Shariff. This will happen WHILE WE ARE THERE.

The government is about to fall. Karzai is universally hated in Afghanistan. He isn't going to win even a rigged election. The corruption in his government makes the Iraqi Govt look like an upstanding civil service.

We can't win. You are talking about people who primarily still think it is the 13th century. There is almost non-existent health services. Women in reality have no rights (they are property to be sold, killed or prostituted). There is no economy outside of illegal drugs for the most part. Karzai's govt is filled with Taliban. Women in Kabul are back in Burkhas.

I hate to tell you this but we have already lost...just like Genghis Khan, the British and the Soviets.

Staying there for national honor is a recipe for disaster. I haven't even gotten into what is coming over the border from Pakistan.

The entire country is rearming ready to start the civil war again. What may I ask is your prescription to prevent this because not even 100,000 troops will do it.

We blew it.

It's time to bring the troops home and stop the wars. Moving troops from one country to another is no solution.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 10, 2008 (boomark / email).