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| Afghanistan |
| Al-Qaeda so weak that US Afghanistan withdrawal would be justified |
| 2011-06-19 |
| Drone strikes and covert operations have weakened Afghanistan's al-Qaeda network to the extent a speedier than planned withdrawal of US troops would be justified, according to officials in the Obama administration. Senior officials who appeared to support a faster exit plan told the New York Times that 20 of al-Qaeda's 30 prominent leaders in the region had been killed in the past 18 months. During the May 2 raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden, the US seized intelligence materials at the al-Qaeda leader's compound which showed that his lieutenants were too afraid for their lives to plan overseas terror attacks. An official said that the description of Pakistan's tribal areas as a "safe haven" was now a misnomer. Mr Obama has doubled the rate of drone attacks in Pakistan's autonomous areas, adding to tensions with Islamabad but reaping deadly results against al-Qaeda. Given that one of his major justifications for continuing the war in Afghanistan has been to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" al-Qaeda, many of his senior officials are arguing that he now has the latitude to bring home US troops at a faster rate than anticipated. With growing concern in the United States about the duration and cost of the war, Mr Obama is under mounting pressure to reduce the US military presence. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #14 Iran is the other source of disease. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2011-06-19 16:09 |
| #13 Afghanistan is the symptom of the disease. Pakistan is the source of the disease. And the disease is.... Islam! Pakistan is the current source - Arabia is (and was) the original source. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-06-19 14:45 |
| #12 Afghanistan is the symptom of the disease. Pakistan is the source of the disease. Saudis inject nutrients to make the disease grow. Starve the disease petri dish and the disease dies. Been that way for a decade+. Our problem is a lack of will and leadership. Plus a bunch of lefty leaders who have softened up who we are. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2011-06-19 14:26 |
| #11 according to officials in the Obama administration. Once I read that, I knew the statement was absolute hogwash. The simple truth is that Obama and his crew do NOT wish America well. We need to get out of our heads that they are trying to help. Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2011-06-19 13:40 |
| #10 If they are so weak then just kill them. |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-06-19 12:11 |
| #9 The issue isn't Al Qaeda, and hasn't been for a long time. The Siamese twin issues are the Pakistan's war against America in Afganistan, and the war of the ISI's pet jihadi groups against India and the West. If we 'declare victory and go home' without dealing with those problems, those problems will explode like an infection merely suppressed by antibiotics. And, so long as everyone's attention is focussed on Afghanistan, the ongoing hunt on the far side of the border is getting precisely the lack of attention desired, just as on the Afghan side nobody notices what Special Forces are accomplishing the background while in the foreground the regular troops are doing their thing -- rather successfully, by recent accounts, might I add. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-06-19 11:46 |
| #8 Let's stop kidding ourselves about civilizing. Next time we'll just make the rubble dance. |
| Posted by: regular joe 2011-06-19 10:29 |
| #7 Leaving really isn't an option in the foreseeable future. What we are looking at is like Vietnam in reverse. That is, imagine if the roles of Vietnam and Cambodia were reversed? The US Military is in Cambodia with the NVA sending an endless supply of fighters across the border to attack us and the Cambodian government. Pakistan has half the population (177m) of the United States, yet the government only controls part of the country. The other enclaves are full of madrassas that train an endless supply of new fighters. If the US pulls out, the government of Afghanistan will fall, probably within a year or two, and Pakistan will again start exporting terrorists by the thousand. In that scenario, the only sane thing to do, which they wouldn't, would be for all of Europe and the Americas to prohibit all emigration from Pakistan and Afghanistan. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-06-19 10:26 |
| #6 If they regrow we can return. Not sure: the road to Afgahanistan goes through Pakistan and it will be harder to get a new right of crossing than keeping the existing one. |
| Posted by: JFM 2011-06-19 09:39 |
| #5 If they regrow we can return. Do not assume we'll have anything to return with. They're going to gut defense (one of the very basics in the Federalist Papers justifying a national government) instead of the two major revenue sucking black holes of socialist entitlements. That doesn't include interest that will have to be paid to even get loans via Treasury bonds. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-06-19 09:35 |
| #4 If they regrow we can return. Only with the not nice military. We should be real clear about that before we leave. The world will be able to get along fine, in fact lots better, without Afghanistan. Or Pakistan for that matter. Behave or be gone. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2011-06-19 08:24 |
| #3 I don't think we should call it a day yet, we'd all like to but they will regrow like they did after 2002. There is a planned withdrawal, let's follow it. |
| Posted by: Griting Smith6978 2011-06-19 08:04 |
| #2 Damn straight. El Scramo Sadundo. Out of meanery I'd suggest trying to figure a way to get out via the semi-friendlystans via rail. I hate the idea of dropping more cash on the the vile tribal entity. |
| Posted by: Zombie Hillary Lover 2011-06-19 06:05 |
| #1 Declare victory and leave. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2011-06-19 05:55 |