http://trendsupdates.com/robert-gates-and-the-%e2%80%98american-footprint%e2%80%99-in-afghanistan/ A trip down the trendy lane Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:57:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://trendsupdates.com/robert-gates-and-the-%e2%80%98american-footprint%e2%80%99-in-afghanistan/#comment-11353 Stan Krasnoff Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:05:34 +0000 http://trendsupdates.com/?p=28080#comment-11353 Here we go round the mulberry bush with Gates’ comment: ‘too many forces and it would look like an occupation’. The US has been in Afghanistan since 2001 and there are 68,000 US troops in-country already! The nub of the question is: Should the US prop up Kharzai? While the ‘talking heads’ in Washington agonize over the strategy and combat power necessary for operations in Afghanistan, the sands of time are running out. The Taliban in Afghanistan now operate in more than 220 of the 400 districts in Afghanistan, compared to fewer than 30 five years ago and its spread of terror reaches east of the Indus River threatening India. To make matters worse the U.S. strategy rests on an undemocratic, corrupt and weak central government (shades of Vietnam), let’s face it, Kharzai cheated his way into office in an election held under American supervision, an election that even the government of Afghanistan concedes was stolen. The current efforts to prop up Kharzai’s government (which the US itself has called fraudulent) should be abandoned and the US should foster the formation of a new tribal council to redraft the constitution. If Obama chooses to prop up Kharzai, the Muslim world will rally in favor of the Taliban. The US must take matters into its own hands and deploy sufficient combat power to defeat the enemy: At least 150,000 troops and conduct search and destroy operations against al Qaeda over a period of 180 days after which all troops should be pulled out—in win and get out quick. With PSYOPS propaganda and construction engineers in the cleared villages following up the search and destroy missions, just watch the Taliban give up on el Qaeda. I touched on this in my book http://www.strategicbookpublishing.com/AClaytonsDefense.html Here we go round the mulberry bush with Gates’ comment: ‘too many forces and it would look like an occupation’. The US has been in Afghanistan since 2001 and there are 68,000 US troops in-country already! The nub of the question is: Should the US prop up Kharzai? While the ‘talking heads’ in Washington agonize over the strategy and combat power necessary for operations in Afghanistan, the sands of time are running out. The Taliban in Afghanistan now operate in more than 220 of the 400 districts in Afghanistan, compared to fewer than 30 five years ago and its spread of terror reaches east of the Indus River threatening India. To make matters worse the U.S. strategy rests on an undemocratic, corrupt and weak central government (shades of Vietnam), let’s face it, Kharzai cheated his way into office in an election held under American supervision, an election that even the government of Afghanistan concedes was stolen. The current efforts to prop up Kharzai’s government (which the US itself has called fraudulent) should be abandoned and the US should foster the formation of a new tribal council to redraft the constitution. If Obama chooses to prop up Kharzai, the Muslim world will rally in favor of the Taliban. The US must take matters into its own hands and deploy sufficient combat power to defeat the enemy: At least 150,000 troops and conduct search and destroy operations against al Qaeda over a period of 180 days after which all troops should be pulled out—in win and get out quick. With PSYOPS propaganda and construction engineers in the cleared villages following up the search and destroy missions, just watch the Taliban give up on el Qaeda. I touched on this in my book http://www.strategicbookpublishing.com/AClaytonsDefense.html

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