Escalation is the wrong strategy. It is time to leave Afghanistan. (Rep Slaughter's diary at kos)

[cali]

by Rep Louise Slaughter

Thu Dec 03, 2009 at 06:35:22 AM PST

President Obama has announced his intention to send 30,000 more American combat personnel into Afghanistan, bringing the total number of U.S. troops there to 100,000 by next summer. During his speech, the President failed to set out concrete goals and a firm exit strategy. I cannot support this escalation without those guarantees. I am extremely concerned that Afghanistan will rapidly become one more military quagmire that sacrifices American lives and drains our funds.

* Rep Louise Slaughter's diary :: ::
*

I appreciate the difficult situation that President Obama finds himself in. The previous Administration handed him - in addition to a collapsing economy and exploding debt – two ongoing occupations that have already left thousands of Americans dead, and destabilized an entire region of the world. His decision was certainly not made any easier by having General McChrystal’s recommendation leaked to the public. However, as much as I sympathize, the decision to escalate in Afghanistan, with benchmarks for success that are far in the future and not well-defined, will only make the situation worse.

When we invaded Afghanistan it was with a very clear goal: remove Al Qaeda and their base of support. Eight years later, Al Qaeda has been reduced to only 100 of its fighters doing battle in a country of 28 million people. Our military has done its job admirably and it is unlikely that military force can make further progress in that region.

We are interjecting ourselves into a multi-sided civil war between local powers intent on taking control of the region. The ostensibly legitimate government has little control over the country and is plagued by corruption. That corruption extends to the poppy farmers who drive Afghanistan’s opium trade and fund the Taliban. The Karzai government has firm control over only a fraction of the thirty-four provinces in Afghanistan, and our troops will be going into the regions that have the most support for the Taliban.

<snip>

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/3/810346/-Escalation-is-the-wrong-strategy.-It-is-time-to-leave-Afghanistan.

[msongs]

1. she is obviously a "hater" lol nt

[Tippy]

2. One way to end this quickly. is to...

Take out the poppy fields, the Taliban & the Karzai government would be brought to their knees...Aw yes I forgot that would hurt the heroin trade...