Joint Chiefs ask Obama to abandon Bush goals in Afghanistan

[lone_gunman]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090204/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_afghanistan_16

Interesting.  It seems they want to shift the overall goal in Afghanistan to just getting rid of the Taliban, instead of trying to promote democracy and engage in nation building as Bush had done.  Hopefully this will be a more achievable goal.  Does this mean we will prop up a dictator there who will ally with us?

[john828]

....

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

the taliban will be an interesting thing to try to get rid of  they are kinda like kudzu. shoot when the russians were there we were their friends weren't we?

[dogmush]

C&SD; The enemy of my enemy is not neccesarially my friend, but is sometimes useful.

Does this mean we will prop up a dictator there who will ally with us?

I'm pretty sure that's the plan.  If we're lucky we'll get a decade or two from him.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

C&SD; The enemy of my enemy is not neccesarially my friend, but is sometimes useful.


remember the movie green berets?  ther guy put charges under his "allies" mg emplacement too.  so when thet turned he was ready for them.  my kinda guy. i'd build the new dictator a palace  use c-4 for mortar and keep the clicker handy

[Jamisjockey]

the taliban will be an interesting thing to try to get rid of  they are kinda like kudzu. shoot when the russians were there we were their friends weren't we?

No, we weren't.  The Taliban rose to power in the absence of a unified central government. 

Following the removal of the Soviet forces, the U.S. and its allies lost interest in Afghanistan and did little to help rebuild the war-ravaged country or influence events there.[citation needed] The USSR continued to support President Najibullah (former head of the Afghan secret service, KHAD) until 1992 when the new Russian government refused to sell oil products to the Najibullah regime.[52]

Because of the fighting, a number of elites and intellectuals fled to take refuge abroad. This led to a leadership imbalance in Afghanistan. Fighting continued among the victorious Mujahideen factions, which gave rise to a state of warlordism. The most serious fighting during this period occurred in 1994, when over 10,000 people were killed in Kabul alone. It was at this time that the Taliban developed as a politico-religious force, eventually seizing Kabul in 1996 and establishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. By the end of 2000 the Taliban had captured 95% of the country.

During the Taliban's seven-year rule, much of the population experienced restrictions on their freedom and violations of their human rights. Women were banned from jobs, girls forbidden to attend schools or universities.[53] Communists were systematically eradicated and thieves were punished by amputating one of their hands or feet.[54] The majority of the opium production was eradicated by 2001.[55]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afganistan

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

thanks  aren't the taliban so loosely organized that "eliminating " them might be like herding cats?

[lone_gunman]

No, we weren't.  The Taliban rose to power in the absence of a unified central government.

Some of the people who would later become Taliban were, however, backed and supplied by th US when they were Mujahideen fighting the Russians.  So it is correct, I believe that we never supported the Taliban as an organization, but certainly some of the Mujahideen became Taliban.  This is not really a problem to me.  As goals change, sometimes your friends change.

[Jamisjockey]

thanks  aren't the taliban so loosely organized that "eliminating " them might be like herding cats?

Agreed.  Whatever government we expect to leave in power needs to be well funded, trained, and supported.  Otherwise there will be another power void when we leave.

[lone_gunman]

The problem is that even if we establish a tyranny in Afghanistan that provides control, we can only keep it alive for so long. It generally does not work out for us long term.

[Waitone]

Can't wait to see President Obama try to work his negotiating charms on the Taliban.