Is There an End in Sight in Afghanistan?

[IndianaGreen]

Published on Monday, June 21, 2010 by the Guardian/UK

Is There an End in Sight in Afghanistan?

As the 300th British soldier dies in Afghanistan, the question uppermost on everyone's mind is 'how will this all end'

by Robert Fox

The suspicion is that UK and US forces might have ended up fighting the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time. Initially, British and international troops went to Afghanistan to rid the place of al-Qaida following 9/11 and the Taliban regime that were their hosts. Slowly it has drifted into a de facto occupation in many parts of the country - and an aim to build a new nation, with a new form of government and rule that may not be achievable in decades, if at all according to the pessimists.

Even the suggestion that Afghanistan, according to a recent commercial survey, may be sitting on £2tn worth of minerals has been hardly conducive to peace - with many fearing it will actually encourage more factional fighting to get hold of the spoils. The new term, at least in connection with Afghanistan, in Washington and London is "managing expectations". For Obama and Cameron, it is now a question of getting enough security, enough good governance and enough reconciliation with the Taliban before British and US forces can begin the slow trickle home from next summer.

But perhaps an even bigger strategic headache is being created to the south in Pakistan, where US drone attacks are fueling local resentment and causing growing flows of refugees. The UN's Philip Alston has condemned the "PlayStation mentality" of the drone pilots who usually operate from Colorado, and whose operations have led to the death of more than 600 civilians in northern Pakistan over the past year. Zubeida Malik of the BBC reports that for the first time many Pakistanis see the US as a bigger threat to their country than India.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/06/21-6

[msongs]

1. the british ALREADY know what happens to empires that try to control afghanistan nt

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Sure there is, someday the US will leave & the whole thing will go back to the way it was before.

[NorthCarolina]

3. Before they can leave Afghanistan, they will need another place to invade in it's stead. n/t

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Obama won't invade anyplace else. That's up to the next republican

probably 10-20 years down the road.

[NorthCarolina]

5. I hope you're right, but I'm not as confident in that assumption as you are. eom