News: War in Afghanistan

View Is Bleaker Than Official Portrayal of War in Afghanistan

Interesting development... it seems to confirm a lot of the bad things reported to be occurring in Afghanistan through real examples. Obviously the White House and Pentagon aren't happy about this, but sometimes letting the public know what is really going on outweighs what would seem to be relatively minor strategic advantages for the Taliban. I really can't say with much certainty what I think is the right thing to do in Afghanistan, and haven't for several years now. The goal, if we are to stay, would be to provide security for the government and it people until the government can do that itself (and so that, further, it can keep al-Qaeda and other terrorists out). The problem is, that doesn't look like it will be possible for the foreseeable future. The police and army are incompetent, if not corrupt in large segments; Karzai is clearly corrupt himself; the population isn't exactly going head over heels for us (and the reports show some good reasons why), and the Taliban is able to intimidate and control them better than we can support them at the moment. There are so many variables, and things that the general public still doesn't have enough information to evaluate... but it seems to me like this is Vietnam again. I think we should keep perhaps a limited presence there, to monitor the situation and to disrupt any efforts by al-Qaeda. But it seems clear that we simply don't know how to or can't affect the domestic situation in an overall way that can bring a positive resolution in a relatively short period of time and with reasonable deployment of human and material resources. So, Mr. Obama, my vote would be to get the vast majority of our forces out of there.