pakistani342
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2013
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Thankfully we have a sane commander in chief in the white house - building/stabilizing/securing Afghanistan is an Afghan problem, not a US one.
Articles here, excerpts below:
...
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s trip to Washington last week was so triumphant one could almost imagine how his troubled country might morph into a future success story.
At a joint session of Congress and a glittering White House dinner, the brilliant World Bank technocrat and Columbia University grad turned politician pledged a new era in Afghan-U.S. relations. The slight but elegant Ghani presented himself as the antidote to prickly former President Hamid Karzai, under whom corruption soared and U.S.-Afghan relations soured.
...
The White House seems more focused on putting the failed Afghan war behind it than on helping Ghani stabilize the country. True, Obama agreed to delay withdrawal of the last 10,000 U.S. troops, who are training and assisting Afghan forces. Rather than shrinking by half, the force will remain through this year.
...
But Obama insisted that the timeline for a complete withdrawal “remains the end of 2016.” Obviously, he wants to say he ended the war by the time he leaves office. Yet the deadline threatens to pull the rug out from under Ghani before he can show results.
---> Thankfully, Not the US's problem
“The problem fundamentally is not about peace with the Taliban, but about peace with Pakistan,” he said, referring to the fact that the neighboring country has provided sanctuaries to the Taliban for decades. In the past, Pakistan sought to control Afghanistan via the Taliban as a hedge against its archenemy, India.
...
Ghani’s No. 2, Abdullah Abdullah, expanded on that during a breakfast at the Afghan Embassy. “We have seen a change in tone in Pakistan,” he said, “and there is a lot of interaction between our civil and military leadership.” The fact that Pakistan’s leadership is being hit by terrorist attacks, he said, has impelled them to attack Pakistani Taliban groups. The Afghan government has “not seen evidence” yet that Pakistan has cut its support for the Afghan Taliban, but “there is a much more positive environment there,” which Afghans hope to build on.
Articles here, excerpts below:
...
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s trip to Washington last week was so triumphant one could almost imagine how his troubled country might morph into a future success story.
At a joint session of Congress and a glittering White House dinner, the brilliant World Bank technocrat and Columbia University grad turned politician pledged a new era in Afghan-U.S. relations. The slight but elegant Ghani presented himself as the antidote to prickly former President Hamid Karzai, under whom corruption soared and U.S.-Afghan relations soured.
...
The White House seems more focused on putting the failed Afghan war behind it than on helping Ghani stabilize the country. True, Obama agreed to delay withdrawal of the last 10,000 U.S. troops, who are training and assisting Afghan forces. Rather than shrinking by half, the force will remain through this year.
...
But Obama insisted that the timeline for a complete withdrawal “remains the end of 2016.” Obviously, he wants to say he ended the war by the time he leaves office. Yet the deadline threatens to pull the rug out from under Ghani before he can show results.
---> Thankfully, Not the US's problem
“The problem fundamentally is not about peace with the Taliban, but about peace with Pakistan,” he said, referring to the fact that the neighboring country has provided sanctuaries to the Taliban for decades. In the past, Pakistan sought to control Afghanistan via the Taliban as a hedge against its archenemy, India.
...
Ghani’s No. 2, Abdullah Abdullah, expanded on that during a breakfast at the Afghan Embassy. “We have seen a change in tone in Pakistan,” he said, “and there is a lot of interaction between our civil and military leadership.” The fact that Pakistan’s leadership is being hit by terrorist attacks, he said, has impelled them to attack Pakistani Taliban groups. The Afghan government has “not seen evidence” yet that Pakistan has cut its support for the Afghan Taliban, but “there is a much more positive environment there,” which Afghans hope to build on.
