As Mara said, a lot of people in Afghanistan who help us are now under attack. They know if the enemy returns to the village, they will be slaughtered if they helped the Americans.Oh ... that's right ... here, in a fashion, last DEC.
And I'm not sure that peasants in Afghanistan are as sophisticated as Mara in understanding that when a president announces a deadline to begin a withdrawal it's only a feint to the American left.
They read it as: The Americans start leaving in July of next year — that is just about a year — and if I help the Taliban, they will be here in August of 2011, the Americans are going to start leaving, and I'm going to be beheaded if I help the Americans today.
I think that is one of the reasons why it's harder to get the assistance of the locals. The reason the surge succeeded in Iraq is because we had a president of extreme stubbornness and it was understood in the region he didn't have a timeline and he was going to go with the surge until it succeeded or failed.
And once Iraqis understood that, they started to give us intelligence, which created a virtuous cycle of increasing security, more intelligence, and ultimately success. And that is in jeopardy if you announce a timeline in advance — as we have in Afghanistan.
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Wjhat makes you think it's just a feint?
ReplyDeleteThe curent occupant of the White House has never used the words "victory" or "win" in connection with the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has only used the phrase "end the war."
I doubt it is a feint as well. Typical Lefty Dem mentality.
ReplyDeleteAnd...Democrats is and Democrats does....FDR extneding the Depression to get more control (sound familiar?), and then pulling out of SE Asia, then cutting off funding to our allies....thus the "killing fields."
ReplyDeleteThe ground work is laid: A war is unpopular, not becuase someone else showed up and killed lots of us, but because "that other prez made it all up".... and with the financial crisis, what comes next is....we can't afford any more funding to the Afghanis...we're too broke at home (not that the Dems have stopped spending on anything frivolous, so long as it promises a vote in return...
Nope, not cynical, just agreeing with Butch at another level.