The above observation from retired Indian career diplomat M K Bhadrakumar, writing for the Feb. 28 edition of Asia Times Online about Kabul on razor's edge. Yuppers, that it is. My favorite line from his analysis: "Obama was wrong to have left Afghanistan to the State Department and the late Richard Holbrooke's cronies to handle."
Thanks for letting us know LOL
Oh gosh. [wiping away tears of laughter] Now where are we in space and time? From today's Washington Post: Suicide attack outside NATO base kills 9 Afghans in fresh reprisals to Koran burnings.
Here's my favorite headline from this weekend, from Fox News Cable: After riots give way to murder, US restates commitment to Afghanistan
Gee, maybe the patient ones among the Afghans are finally learning from the Pakistanis: Screw being patient. Act out, and get the attention of the US news media. Why, CNN even took time from its saturation coverage of the downtrodden Syrians to interview Ryan Crocker about the crisis in Afghanistan. What next? A whole 30 seconds of news from Afghanistan every night on the telly? I'm not sure I could stand the shock.
Can Ryan Crocker pull a rabbit out of the hat? If he can find where President Obama hid the bunny, maybe. We'll just have to stay tuned. And please don't miss my Sunday essay, Not Since Mazar-i-Sharif, or why the story of the Koran burning incident at Bagram Airfield is improbable. I worked really hard on it, in between plowing through 204 reports on Afghanistan LOL don't mind me; I'm giddy from lack of sleep. Over and out.
Pundita, there are problems with the Afghan Army and Police that have nothing to do with outside interference. Or, rather, we are not going to be able to do anything about them.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but the Indians would love us to stay there forever because they can't be bothered to improve their own internal security and counterterrorism capabilities.
Well, if B. Raman makes that plea....
Look, I don't think we will get this right. It's immoral to council more of the same.
For the Indians, of course they want us to focus on Afghanistan. They are being outmaneuvered strategically, everywhere, because entreating the Americans is somehow a plan.
ReplyDeleteLook, we've done a terrible job strategically, too, and are really mucking things up. More of the same isn't going to work.
At this point, when you say there should be continued committment, what should it be? Michael Yon posted a paper which said that most of the killing of NATO troops by Afghan Army members were from disgruntled types, due to some slight or something, and not necessarily Taliban infiltrators. I thought it was posted at SWJ in the comments section but now I don't see it? Was it leaked or something?
Wow. These days no one can keep anything secret.
Madhu, a thousand pardons for not publishing your comments yesterday; I did see them and wanted to reply and include some links. The projects got lost in the dust kicked up by unexpected events. I will still reply, though, maybe tomorrow.
ReplyDeletePlease never apologize for taking time to approve comments :)
ReplyDeleteYou provide a free service from your blogging and I am grateful.
I mention you here:
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/cordesman-announces-death-of-a-strategy-in-afghanistan