DoD: 2011 not the end in Afghanistan for U.S.

bruno

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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/11/military-2011-not-end-in-afghanistan-112910/

Just in case there was any doubt about this. 2011 is a non-event. There will continue to be lots of soldiers on the ground for a long time in this conflict.



NATO and Washington’s shared goal of withdrawing from Afghanistan by 2014 is just that: a nuanced conditions-based objective, and don’t call it a hard deadline, U.S. and Afghanistan officials said Monday.

In recent weeks, senior U.S. officials stepped back from 2011 as the official beginning of the final phase of the American-led Afghanistan operation. They made it clear that areas will be moved to Afghan control between next summer and 2014, raising eyebrows across the world and questions about whether Washington can keep top allies involved for four more years.

The sudden policy change led Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies to quip during a CSIS-sponsored forum that “2014 is the new 2011.”.....
 
No big surprise there.

Sadly, I think the long term results for Afghanistan will be similar, either way.
 
Yea; I can't say that I believed any of the political rhetoric about pulling the troops out.
 
The sad thing is that whether we stay there for 10 years or 100 years, the country would look no more different than it did back in the 15th century. There has got to be a better way to strengthen our national security...
 
Here's a common misconception! Before the Soviet invasion, the country was on a strong path to being a modern nation. Look at photos of Kabul pre-Soviets and you could mistake it with an American city. Granted the entire country wasn't modern, but much of it was far beyond medieval levels. They once were an emerging nation! We always forget that when we assume they know nothing different than poverty and medieval conditions we see there now.
 
Well, after 30 years of war and with a demographically young population, most Afghanis never experienced that lifestyle. It is really sad what happened to that country in less than two generations.
 
O, no doubt. BUT, there was a point where they weren't in poverty and centuries behind. Too many try to say they never could before so never can. Just debunking that one.
 
COIN standards for Afghanistan approved

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/12/defense-coin-standards-for-afghanistan-120210arm/

It seems kind of after the fact here- we've been in Afghanistan for 9 years at this point and we are just now getting around to formalizing this? Clearly an indication that we persisted in fighting Afghanistan and Iraq for way too long as though they were primarily conventional conflicts.
TPG- have you seen this document? Is this something revolutionary or mostly just a compilation of lessons learned?
 
O, no doubt. BUT, there was a point where they weren't in poverty and centuries behind. Too many try to say they never could before so never can. Just debunking that one.

I think they still share the greater part of the blame. Yes, I know they are a country that has endured successive invasions by Western powers over the centuries but there are other many other countries who have overcome foreign occupation and war. More than blaming it on being invaded, I think it has more to do with the fundamental problems in their society that they cannot overcome. Every nation has its low points in history. Iraq used to be the greatest center of learning and science back in early medieval times...but none of that matters now because they were unable to carry on that legacy. Maybe 300 years from now their roles will be reversed with ours, but that is for another generation to deal with, and 10+ years of armed occupation in this generation will not achieve that.
 
Chock, I'm not talking about centuries of western invasions. They were a modern world in many areas with hospitals, non-burqa-ed women, and universities prior to the Soviet Invasion. That was the 1980s! We're talking 30 years ago, not 300 years ago!
 
Chock, I'm not talking about centuries of western invasions. They were a modern world in many areas with hospitals, non-burqa-ed women, and universities prior to the Soviet Invasion. That was the 1980s! We're talking 30 years ago, not 300 years ago!

Prior to our occupation in Afghanistan now, the USSR invasion and war was the next recent conflict there and it didn't happen too long ago. The Soviet-Afghan War pretty much set the stage for a weak Afghan state that turned into a breeding ground for terrorists and factional fighting between peoples of differing religious beliefs.
 
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