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Afghanistan - At Afghan Crossroads
Jules Witcover
Ongoing war in Afghanistan
(c) M. Ryder
The leak of Gen.
McChrystal, only recently sent to
The leak, obtained by The
It comes on the heels of a recent statement by Adm.
The president, in fact, left the impression that he is doing basic soul-searching on whether this is the time to reconsider the whole role of the American involvement in the region, initiated in the wake of, and justified by, the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In his
The original motivation for going into the country remains valid, and successes have been claimed in diminishing al-Qaida's strength and effectiveness. But the fact that
The longer the war against the Taliban takes on the appearance of a replay of the concerted effort at nation-building that drags on in
This is particularly so as American casualties in
The most recent
Liberal Democrats in
But Obama, for all his early characterization of
In the end, Obama's desire to pursue his own ambitious domestic agenda, something not conspicuously present in the George W. Bush years, may well keep him more determined to find a respectable exit strategy not predicated on Bush's elusive quest of a vaguely defined "victory."
Afghanistan - Going Where in Afghanistan?
Jules Witcover
Two new public-opinion polls say most Americans surveyed believe the United States is not winning the war in Afghanistan, and in one of them a clear majority say no more American troops should be sent there.
Afghanistan - Mission of Ignorance
Robert C. Koehler
Right up there with 'our mission,' in the pantheon of sacred foreign policy mumbo-jumbo, is 'training Afghan security forces,' that endless, multibillion-dollar prerequisite for our departure from the country. We've been training a local army and police force for eight years now to take on the good and noble task of defending U.S. interests. Yet ...
Afghanistan - Situation in Afghanistan is Serious
Robert C. Koehler
The situation in Afghanistan is serious. We're getting 'out-governed' by an enemy so ruthless it's bringing services to a desperate people ignored by the legitimate government we installed. But our eight-year quagmire . . . excuse me, war . . . can still be won, says Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in that country, who recently completed a review of the situation
Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan and Memories of Indochina
William Pfaff
The United States is in Afghanistan for its own reasons. The Afghan president said what he did to encourage the U.S. to keep him their man in Kabul. If the Afghan people should decide that he's nothing more than an American puppet, they will get rid of him. But Washington will get rid of him, too, since he would have lost his plausibility, and hence his value
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- Afghanistan - At Afghan Crossroads
- Afghanistan - Going Where in Afghanistan?
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Afghanistan - At Afghan Crossroads
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