Afghan President Hamid Karzai states that he has no problem with the withdrawal plan of the USA and NATO troops from his country in eighteen months. Even though it is unlikely Afghanistan will have time to train the approximate 250,000 soldiers they will need to continue the fight against the Taliban and al Quada, President Karzai is confident the Afghan people can take the initative and be ready.
Another interesting statement he made involves the Taliban. He stated that he has always wanted to open negations with the Taliban and that it has been th USA that has blocked the initiative.
Interesting. I suggest that President Karzai clean up the nepotism and corruption in his administration before meeting with the Taliban. After all, the Taliban way be extremist nuts but they frown on corruption and deceit, two things very prevalent in the current Afghan government.
I hope that President Karzai is serious about cleaning up his act and working with the the world aide agencies to better the condition of the people of Afghanistan. At the same time I hope he makes a real effort to create a true coalition government of the various tribes that make up Afghanistan and that he cooperates with the USA and NATO in what should be a very intense eighteen months.
Let us hope that the effort of the next eighteen months leads to the beginning for a democratic Afghanistan where all are truly equal. Or, at least more equal than they have ever been in the past.
If Karzai does not cooperate and reform, then our human and material treasures will have been wasted in Afghanistan and that is unacceptable.
Its Common Sense!
Showing posts with label Taliban. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taliban. Show all posts
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Karzai - Second Term
Abdullah Abdullah evidently decided that even with UN inspectors monitoring the polling stations, that he would not get a fair vote count, and bowed out of Afghanistan's presidential race. His departure allowed the Election Committee to give President Karzai his second term.
USA President Obama congratulated Karzai but said that Karzai's actions would speak louder than words and would be very influential in what actions the USA takes over the next several months.
Why did Abdullah bow out? Okay, we know the first election was corrupt and rigged, but this time the hope was UN inspectors would make some kind of difference. If nothing else, a close contest would have put pressure on Karzai to focus on the Afghan people and his country, rather than himself and immediate family.
My fear is that Karzai will now consider himself invincible, becoming arrogant, aloof and a dangerous ally.
Hopefully I am wrong. Time will tell. In the meantime tens of thousands of American military service personnel are putting their lives on line to free Afghanistan of the Taliban and al Qaeda. If they do not receive the support they need - foremost from the Afghan people and government - then their mission will fail and the deaths of thousands (American and Afghan) will have been for nothing.
President Obama needs to watch President Karzai closely and insure the security of our military personnel. If Karzai betrays us, the the USA and NATO need to withdraw from Afghanistan and join with hunting down the Taliban and al Qaeda in Pakistan. Karzai will be left to his own devices, and maybe that desperate act will allow the Afghan people to have a true chance for freedom.
Its Common Sense!
USA President Obama congratulated Karzai but said that Karzai's actions would speak louder than words and would be very influential in what actions the USA takes over the next several months.
Why did Abdullah bow out? Okay, we know the first election was corrupt and rigged, but this time the hope was UN inspectors would make some kind of difference. If nothing else, a close contest would have put pressure on Karzai to focus on the Afghan people and his country, rather than himself and immediate family.
My fear is that Karzai will now consider himself invincible, becoming arrogant, aloof and a dangerous ally.
Hopefully I am wrong. Time will tell. In the meantime tens of thousands of American military service personnel are putting their lives on line to free Afghanistan of the Taliban and al Qaeda. If they do not receive the support they need - foremost from the Afghan people and government - then their mission will fail and the deaths of thousands (American and Afghan) will have been for nothing.
President Obama needs to watch President Karzai closely and insure the security of our military personnel. If Karzai betrays us, the the USA and NATO need to withdraw from Afghanistan and join with hunting down the Taliban and al Qaeda in Pakistan. Karzai will be left to his own devices, and maybe that desperate act will allow the Afghan people to have a true chance for freedom.
Its Common Sense!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Hillary - No Holds Barred
Our Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, let the Pakistani press, and the people and government of Pakistan, know that she does not believe they are putting forth an all out effort to capture al Qaeda operatives in their country. Mrs Clinton made it clear that she finds it impossible to believe that the Pakistan government does not know where the al Qaeda terrorists are hiding.
Mrs Clinton also stated that she does not understand why the people of Pakistan are willing to give up land and let their country grow smaller as they cede parts of it to the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Tomorrow she will be meeting with top Pakistani military leaders to discuss their current war on the Taliban and al Qaeda. One thing I bet she will hear is that Pakistan wants the Afghanistan military, as well as the USA soldiers and their NATO allies to begin taking charge of their side of the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. After all, Pakistan would not have all their current Taliban and al Qaeda problems if the troops in Afghanistan had secured their border.
It will be interesting to see if Mrs Clinton's tough talk will have any positive outcome. The Negatives are already out, we'll see after her talks with the Pakistan military bring anything positive.
Yesterday she spoke of possibly cutting off aide to Pakistan. A pretty big stick, but I do not know what carrot she dangled along with it.
Richard Holbrook will probably find himself confronted with a barrel of new issues - especially hurt feelings - once Hillary leaves. Hopefully he'll be able to get the Pakistan government to work with all of the allies and bring about a meaningful peace in that mountainous region of the world.
Time will tell.
Its Common Sense!
Mrs Clinton also stated that she does not understand why the people of Pakistan are willing to give up land and let their country grow smaller as they cede parts of it to the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Tomorrow she will be meeting with top Pakistani military leaders to discuss their current war on the Taliban and al Qaeda. One thing I bet she will hear is that Pakistan wants the Afghanistan military, as well as the USA soldiers and their NATO allies to begin taking charge of their side of the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. After all, Pakistan would not have all their current Taliban and al Qaeda problems if the troops in Afghanistan had secured their border.
It will be interesting to see if Mrs Clinton's tough talk will have any positive outcome. The Negatives are already out, we'll see after her talks with the Pakistan military bring anything positive.
Yesterday she spoke of possibly cutting off aide to Pakistan. A pretty big stick, but I do not know what carrot she dangled along with it.
Richard Holbrook will probably find himself confronted with a barrel of new issues - especially hurt feelings - once Hillary leaves. Hopefully he'll be able to get the Pakistan government to work with all of the allies and bring about a meaningful peace in that mountainous region of the world.
Time will tell.
Its Common Sense!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Afghanistan Election - Try Number 2
Even though it is evident Karzai and his cronies tried to win Afghanistan's presidental election with a little (ok, a lot of help) Karzai has agreed to run off foot in early November. The fact that he has given in without a lot of kicking and crying means, 1. that he still thinks he can win (if he cheats this time his people will hopefully be much more clever), 2. he knows he cannot survive without US and NATO support (daah!!) 3. if the USA leaves he's a dead man anyway you look at it.
So, kudos to Afghanistan. They are really trying. Even if democracy is not for them, no one can say they did not try it out.
It will be interesting to see if the Taliban gets any representation in their parliament or not. That would make things interesting.
The next month should prove to an interesting time in Afghanistan. They need the opportunity to hold their election the right way this time.
Let's hope that the fighting stays in Pakistan. If the US & NATO troops can move to the border with Pakistan, maybe a combined effort can do some serious damage to the Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. Hopefully it will lessen tensions in Kabul and the rest of Afghanistan to allow the people to vote.
We will watch and hope for the best.
Its Common Sense!
So, kudos to Afghanistan. They are really trying. Even if democracy is not for them, no one can say they did not try it out.
It will be interesting to see if the Taliban gets any representation in their parliament or not. That would make things interesting.
The next month should prove to an interesting time in Afghanistan. They need the opportunity to hold their election the right way this time.
Let's hope that the fighting stays in Pakistan. If the US & NATO troops can move to the border with Pakistan, maybe a combined effort can do some serious damage to the Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. Hopefully it will lessen tensions in Kabul and the rest of Afghanistan to allow the people to vote.
We will watch and hope for the best.
Its Common Sense!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Afghanistan Eight Years Later
Eight years ago yesterday the USA attack Al Qaeda locations in Afghanistan after the ruling Taliban party refused to turn over Osama bin Laden and his henchmen after the 9/11 attack.
For eight years the USA and allies have been involved in trying to hunt down and wipe out Al Qaeda, in Afghanistan and where ever else they are hiding.
Unfortunately this war got side tracked when the Bush Administration decided to focus their attention on Iraq.
Now focus is returning to Afghanistan, but big talk and promises are fading and the Obama Administration is face with dealing with the realities.
The Afghan people are not happy with Karzai. I cannot blame them because there seems to be a lot of corruption. At the same time, the majority do not appear to want a return of Taliban control. I sympathize with that because I would not want to be ruled by archaic Middle Age laws applied by fanatics armed with AK47s.
What I believe the USA needs to do is refocus on the original mission. Get bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Our original objective was not to bring democracy to Afghanistan. That is something the Afghans will have to handle for themselves. I believe we can offer financial aide to rebuild infrastructure and help with education and modernization but political change needs to come from the people.
These tribes have been sparring with each other for centuries, they need to resolve their issues without outside interference.
The USA and its allies need to concentrate their military and intelligence operation on hunting down and capturing/killing bin Laden and all his Al Qaeda network. They need to concentrate in Afghanistan and Pakistan and once they have finished there they will need to move to Somalia, Sudan and any other country that is offering Al Qaeda a haven.
The UN needs to issue a proclamation that any nation harboring Al Qaeda criminals need to surrender them or face the consequences.
Obama needs to let Afghanistan and Iraq take care of themselves, offer aide for building, but the military needs to concentrate on Al Qaeda.
Its Common Sense!
For eight years the USA and allies have been involved in trying to hunt down and wipe out Al Qaeda, in Afghanistan and where ever else they are hiding.
Unfortunately this war got side tracked when the Bush Administration decided to focus their attention on Iraq.
Now focus is returning to Afghanistan, but big talk and promises are fading and the Obama Administration is face with dealing with the realities.
The Afghan people are not happy with Karzai. I cannot blame them because there seems to be a lot of corruption. At the same time, the majority do not appear to want a return of Taliban control. I sympathize with that because I would not want to be ruled by archaic Middle Age laws applied by fanatics armed with AK47s.
What I believe the USA needs to do is refocus on the original mission. Get bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Our original objective was not to bring democracy to Afghanistan. That is something the Afghans will have to handle for themselves. I believe we can offer financial aide to rebuild infrastructure and help with education and modernization but political change needs to come from the people.
These tribes have been sparring with each other for centuries, they need to resolve their issues without outside interference.
The USA and its allies need to concentrate their military and intelligence operation on hunting down and capturing/killing bin Laden and all his Al Qaeda network. They need to concentrate in Afghanistan and Pakistan and once they have finished there they will need to move to Somalia, Sudan and any other country that is offering Al Qaeda a haven.
The UN needs to issue a proclamation that any nation harboring Al Qaeda criminals need to surrender them or face the consequences.
Obama needs to let Afghanistan and Iraq take care of themselves, offer aide for building, but the military needs to concentrate on Al Qaeda.
Its Common Sense!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
The Strength of the USA
President Obama let it be known that 12,000 American troops will be leaving Iraq this coming September, as well as 4,000 British troops and the insurgents responded by sending a suicide bomber to a police recruitment center and killing more than thirty people and wounding numerous more.
Now that the insurgents have the USA departure time table, it appears they are letting their fellow country men know that the best thing to do is stay out of sight because once the western powers depart the Sunni, Shiite, and Kurds are going to get down to the business of a serious civil war. We know that Iran will be supporting the Shiites, it will be interesting to see who supports the Sunni and Kurds.
Of course the regrettable thing of all of this is the similarity to what happened in Viet Nam. Once again US troops will be retreating without resolving anything. President Obama has said he will leave a force of 30 to 50 thousand behind for security purposes, but the reality is that other than protecting the embassy and maybe the airport, these troops will have little effect on anything.
Since I do not personally think the Iraq government is stable or strong enough to exist on its own, I see a massive civil war beginning in 2011 and there is no telling what the final result will be. Iraq could be divided into three separate countries, or we could see the beginning of a civil war running for decades.
One thing that will be obvious is that the USA failed in its mission and only created more chaos in the Middle East.
Along with this, I was shocked to hear that President Obama believes that there are moderates in the Taliban and that he wants to initiate dialogue with these men (we know the Taliban has no women with any power) to see about stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan. From what we have seen of the Taliban over the past several months it is evident their view is that they should have the power as they recently showed in Pakistan by taking over part of that country.
Thus far the new Administration is not projecting an image of strength to world, but rather one of weakness, compromise and in the case of the gift to the Russian Foreign Minister, stupidity in not getting the right word working together.
Our foreign image has gone from war monger to foolish, which is worse?
I realize that President Obama and the Congress are facing serious domestic as well as foreign issues and crisis. I just wish they could appear to be competent in dealing with them.
If they are out of their depth they need to admit it, forget about their egos and hire people who can get the job done.
Its Common Sense!
Now that the insurgents have the USA departure time table, it appears they are letting their fellow country men know that the best thing to do is stay out of sight because once the western powers depart the Sunni, Shiite, and Kurds are going to get down to the business of a serious civil war. We know that Iran will be supporting the Shiites, it will be interesting to see who supports the Sunni and Kurds.
Of course the regrettable thing of all of this is the similarity to what happened in Viet Nam. Once again US troops will be retreating without resolving anything. President Obama has said he will leave a force of 30 to 50 thousand behind for security purposes, but the reality is that other than protecting the embassy and maybe the airport, these troops will have little effect on anything.
Since I do not personally think the Iraq government is stable or strong enough to exist on its own, I see a massive civil war beginning in 2011 and there is no telling what the final result will be. Iraq could be divided into three separate countries, or we could see the beginning of a civil war running for decades.
One thing that will be obvious is that the USA failed in its mission and only created more chaos in the Middle East.
Along with this, I was shocked to hear that President Obama believes that there are moderates in the Taliban and that he wants to initiate dialogue with these men (we know the Taliban has no women with any power) to see about stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan. From what we have seen of the Taliban over the past several months it is evident their view is that they should have the power as they recently showed in Pakistan by taking over part of that country.
Thus far the new Administration is not projecting an image of strength to world, but rather one of weakness, compromise and in the case of the gift to the Russian Foreign Minister, stupidity in not getting the right word working together.
Our foreign image has gone from war monger to foolish, which is worse?
I realize that President Obama and the Congress are facing serious domestic as well as foreign issues and crisis. I just wish they could appear to be competent in dealing with them.
If they are out of their depth they need to admit it, forget about their egos and hire people who can get the job done.
Its Common Sense!
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