Biden: the retreat will be televised

Another chapter in what has to be the worst Strategic Communications campaign since the Cambodian Invasion.

The President announces a nuanced AF-PAK Strategy (a post I am working on for later this week) - as US forces continue to shape at the Tactical level in an exemplary manner.

Well --- then Biden weighs in with something that does but one thing; provides comfort to the enemy and tells our friends that they had better look towards "Plan B."

Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, the master of subtle diplomatic messaging declared that on July 2011 the U.S. really will begin to leave the Afghan theater. “It will not be a token amount” of troops leaving, Mr. Biden said, adding that “We’re going to be totally of there come hell or high water by 2014.”

Yes, a retreat under fire will be both hell and high water.

Watch the next in line to The Presidency yourself.


Just to make sure that everyone knows we plan to retreat; the Voice of America in Afghanistan has translated this into Pashtu (I think) and Dari. Nice.

Well - if that is it; slow trickle summer 2011 and pell-mell retreat in 2014, then what are we actually doing?

Well, if I were still in the business, with this Direction and Guidance there is one simple thing to do - with what you have try your best to create the best of possible conditions on the ground before you leave. Once you do that - then you have hope. Hope isn't a plan, but sometimes it is all the politicians give you. Good luck guys - I don't envy your COA Development.

Not since the 93rd Congress have we seen such irresponsible behavior towards engineering defeat.

AFG was "my war" not IRQ. I remember talking with my parents in mid-'07 when IRQ was so dire and AFG seemed so OK to those reading the press. My mother especially was shocked when I told her that it was AFG that worried me, not IRQ. The reason was that the solution to AFG was the 8-yr olds in the classroom today that we hoped to have literate in 10 years so they could re-form a civil society. I didn't feel that we could have the patience required to see it through multiple administrations. The AFG know to look for any sign of weakness so they can make plans accordingly. They trust no one - and for good reason.

I don't know how much more we can advertise weakness than this. If I were Tajik, Hazara, or Uzbek and did not have the money or inclination to emigrate - I would be rearming with a passion with plans to eliminate all Pashtun pockets in my area at the first chance I can between now and 2014. If I were Pashtun, I wouldn't get withing 10 yards of anything associated with the USA/ISAF/Afghan government.

Those are the pragmatic things to do. Not the right thing to do perhaps, but the pragmatic if you live in that neighborhood. I would say that if not already, if we follow through with 2011's initial retreat, over 51% of AFG will feel the same.

Well, just be happy this crew wasn't in power in '07. Remember, Biden was the one that thought the solution to IRQ was to cut it into three parts while a quasi-civil war was going on. Brilliant that was.

Back to AFG though; if you aren't in it to win - then why are you there?