Comments on: Afghans: Question Of More US Troops Beside The Point

By: Linkblog Retrospective #3

Linkblog Retrospective #3 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:33:27 +0000

[...] Afghans: Question Of More US Troops Beside The Point – Afghans want more US troops! Kinda sorta! In a way! [...]

By: P.J. Tobia - Afghan Desk – Afghan Desk Weekly Roundup! - True/Slant

P.J. Tobia - Afghan Desk – Afghan Desk Weekly Roundup! - True/Slant — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:24:00 +0000

[...] Afghans told us that the question of more US soldiers is beside the point and what they’d really like–if it’s not too much trouble–is an honest, [...]

By: P.J. Tobia - Afghan Desk – Irans’ Role In The Afghan Insurgency - True/Slant

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:52:02 +0000

[...] to cash and weapons, but I haven’t heard anything about training camps. But inject another 40,000 Americans into Afghanistan, as may soon happen, and perhaps we may see Iran become a bit more [...]

By: Zaid Jilani

Zaid Jilani — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:37:15 +0000

It seems like the only real solution is some kind of reconciliation between warring factions, not a military-style clamping down of the country. If President Obama is serious as a peacemaker, he will work his best to bring people together and not solve this political problem with a military solution.

By: John Nagl and Richard Fontaine, Hand-Waving – Rethink Afghanistan

John Nagl and Richard Fontaine, Hand-Waving – Rethink Afghanistan — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:09:58 +0000

[...] taking up arms against the foreign occupier and corrupt central government. Never let on that more troops in more places will mean more fighting and more dead civilians. Wave the hands, distract the audience, palm the [...]

By: John Nagl and Richard Fontaine, Hand-Waving « Return Good for Evil

John Nagl and Richard Fontaine, Hand-Waving « Return Good for Evil — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:44:06 +0000

By: Tweets that mention P.J. Tobia - Afghan Desk – Afghans: Question Of More US Troops Beside The Point - True/Slant -- Topsy.com

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:03:00 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tweets Tube. Tweets Tube said: Many Afghans uncertain about more US troops http://bit.ly/JQegT [...]

By: libtree09

libtree09 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:54:36 +0000

This is clearly a difficult problem and there does not seem to be a perfect solution. It seems that more troops produces more violence which produces an argument for more troops. It is a trap that we have fallen into before in Vietnam. There has been some disagreement about how a counter insurgency works and some consider that Afghanistan would require 600,000 troops for a true counter insurgency to work. Yet in Vietnam it did not work.

Pumping money into a corrupt government is counter productive and does nothing in the hearts and minds strategy. It would have been better to go back to a provincial government with a strong judicial system to make sure the money is well spent. However in Iraq this was so mismanaged by junior incompetents that it would not be considered.

Your report indicates that the people just want to get on with their lives without being squeezed between the west, the insurgents and a government that is making money from both sides.

By: jmolony

jmolony — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:39:26 +0000

It’s not possible to prop up a corrupt government and support the results of a rigged election then simultaneously espouse freedom and democracy in a way that will be meaningful for Afghanis…. I’m starting to wonder if a heavily monitored runoff election, with voting places heavily bolstered by security in the form of extra troops might not be a good place to start.

Also, Obama needs to speak frankly with the American people about what the mission is at this moment in the near future. With no message coming from the UN general assembly or the G20, he can’t afford to spend countless weeks mulling options. His policy on Afghanistan seems bogged down and indecisive IMO.

By: P.J. Tobia

P.J. Tobia — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:31:43 +0000

Rocky,

Actually the term-du-jour in the NGO community is “capacity building,” but same difference, no matter what you call it, everybody is terrible at it.

And while I think that many here desperately want a legitimate unified gov’t, if the US just “got out of the way,” that is not at all what Afghans would get. The Kabul gov’t would be toppled and strongmen and insurgents would fight it out in the street, just like in ‘93. Power abhors a vacuum. In Afghanistan, that vacuum would be plugged with the corpses of those who stand in the way of whoever tries to take power.

I’m not arguing for or against the US presence here, I am saying that everybody needs to be aware of the consequences of staying or going.