Afghanistan "not going in the right direction" Posted by The Editors

This post is from NSN intern Eric Auner

The Economist has an article today discussing the brazenness of recent Taliban assaults on “areas once deemed safe.” The article describes the attacks:

“In July, they tried to overrun a new American outpost in Nuristan province, killing nine Americans. In August, they attempted to fight their way into a big American base outside Khost, a town that for a year had been a model of stability. Earlier this month they made a three-pronged stab at Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.”

These events and a score of similar ones have led Admiral Michael Mullen to conclude that Afghanistan is “not going in the right direction.” Even if the Bush administration has begun a “reassessment,” it is clearly coming much later than it should have. 

It is doubtful that we would be hearing such pessimistic sentiments out of Afghanistan if the United States did not have so many of its resources tied down in Iraq.  With McCain down so far in the polls, hopefully the Iraq-mania that he has long shared with President Bush will not be allowed to further endanger the mission in Afghanistan. 

Comments

[Don Bacon]

Re: Tied-down resources

SecDef Gates has clear reservations, as he should have, about a larger US troop presence in Afghanistan. "I think we need to think long and hard about how big a footprint we want in Afghanistan compared, say, to growing the Afghan army much faster."
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4295

The reason? More US troops means more civilian casualties and more US ownership of a bad situation, which spiral into more armed resistance.

[Eric Auner]

Don,

I agree, essentially, with your point about troops. There was an interesting talk from Stephen Starr a few weeks ago that made that same point rather well. I meant resources in the broader sense of money and personnel, which would be necessary for expanding the Afghan army.

[Don Bacon]

Eric,
Thank you for responding (agreeing or not). It is extremely rare on this site to get any recognition that one has written anything, but being new you didn't know the rules. (:-)

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