Surging More Troops Into Quagmire Will Harm Afghans and Americans

[tekisui]

Source: The Nation.

"I know that Obama's election has brought great hopes to peace-loving people in the United States. But for Afghans, Obama's military buildup will only bring more suffering and death to innocent civilians..."

-- Afghan parliamentarian Malalai Joya

The only humane and proper response to the mess in Afghanistan is the rapid withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from that country.

The makers of the brilliant documentary Rethink Afghanistan" have after interviewing savvy diplomats, honest intelligence operatives and frustrated military men and women -- as well as human rights activists, feminists and sincere reformers in Afghanistan -- concluded that:

Expanding the war in Afghanistan will make Americans less safe, not more so. Less than 100 members of Al Qaeda remain in Afghanistan. The Karzai government we once supported is controlled by warlords and is riddled with corruption. Pakistan's stability will be gravely imperiled by an expansion of the war. Hundreds if not thousands of troops will be killed, along with countless civilians.

Anti-American sentiment throughout the Muslim world will be inflamed by civilian bloodshed, facilitating recruitment by terrorist organizations. The war will cost billions of dollars when we can least afford it, and will stymie your domestic agenda. The cost of sustaining a military force in Afghanistan is $1 million per soldier per year – that's close to $100 billion dollars annually with the troop increase. With the economy in shambles, the deficits generated by these enormous costs will compromise your domestic legislative agenda both fiscally and politically.

The United States has no vital interest in Afghanistan. If you choose to further escalate troop levels in Afghanistan, you will be making the biggest mistake of your presidency.

These points are have been confirmed again and again by savvy observers who have been on the ground in Afghanistan, including Americans such as Matthew Hoh, a decorated military officer and diplomat who until this summer served as the senior U.S. civilian official in that country's strife-torn Zabul province.

Says Hoh:: "The presence of our ground combat troops is not doing anything to defeat al-Qaida."

So what are our troops doing there?

"We're involved in a civil war in Afghanistan," explains Hoh, who recently resigned from the U.S. foreign service because of his objections to the occupation. "We're only taking one side in that civil war. And, our presence there is only encouraging the civil war to go on."

Hoh and others like him, in the U.S. and Afghanistan, are the voices of reason.

more: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/501535/surging_more_troops_into_quagmire_will_harm_afghans_and_american

[tekisui]

1. Afghanistan is NOT frontline in war on terror.

What does matter is that Obama's expected decision to surge of as many as 34,000 additional troops into a quagmire that is turning more deadly, destructive and expensive with each passing day represents a rejection of the counsel of diplomats, intelligence operatives and retired military commanders -- all of whom have said that Afghanistan is not the frontline, or even a line, in the war on terror.

(from link)

[polichick]

2. K&R - Joe Biden has also tried to be a voice of reason...

But the prez seems immune to reason these days.

[peacebird]

3. Obama's surge is not only WRONG, it is dead wrong.

And by listening to Bush's pro-war stooges Obama is going to lose the support of Progressive Dems.

All he will gain by this is Repukes winning in the next election.

very very sad.

[elocs]

4. How sad for one of the very poorest nations in the world.

As thousands of Afghans are refugees, living in pathetic camps where they watch their children die from cold and exposure and hunger. They have no hope and we offer none as we support that country's corrupt government and prop up its warlords.

This has truly become Obama's War.

[mike_c]

5. obama's war, obama's folly-- and yet another reason for progressives...

...to say "I told you so" when it all blows up in our faces. No one listens.

[L0oniX]

6. With over 45,000 traffic deaths each year, I fear other drivers, not the terrorists.

Just say'n ...chances are you're going to get it in a car way before any two bit terrorist gets you.

[Oregone]

7. Obama leaving Afghanistan would break a campaign promises--a greater wrong than death and spending

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. Ooooh.....the embarrassment!!