Currently, the US is working to secure transit routes and trying to convince regions around Kandahar to cooperate with NATO forces. Obama has ordered a deployment of 3000 more troops to Afghanistan. However, military officials expect "thousands more" to be sent to Kandahar.
I question the necessity of another 3000 +several thousand more troops being sent to Afghanistan. Also, I didn't get a sense of confidence from reading military officials' quotes... They say they hope it will be better than past attacks, but who knows? Since it has already been decided and has been planned for a long time, I guess all I can do is hope that we succeed and if possible, quickly.
4 comments:
This is a very interesting... well, since you didn't site any sources, I can't really claim it is fact... But it's certainly an interesting piece of theoretical information.
However, I find myself unable to provide much commentary, as there is no connection to other events, and, in fact, no commentary at all.
-Ilan Seid-Green
Sorry Ilan, I read this article from the New York Times and Yahoo News. I added commentary and i'm sorry there was no explicit connection to other events.
I guess the funding could be connected to pretty much all other effects. Also, there would be pretty detrimental political effects if this plan fails, especially with the health care plan barely passing and all the dispute about it even after it has been passed.
Mkay. Well, in general, I certainly don't approve of Obama's strategy. An added rush of troops, even if they are part of a plan to get them out later, just isn't the same as starting to take them out now. If I wished to look at it cynically, I would say that this is just a trick to get more troops in, and put off for now taking them out, and maybe they can change that plan later.
Also, I agree with your comment on the confidence of those in charge. They seem to lack it. They've seen how fruitless this assault has been, and all they can do is hope that it will get better, while they know it won't.
-Ilan Seid-Green
I agree with Jenny, but I can also see where there is an advantage of another three thousand troops. Though more troops overseas is almost never a good thing, if military leaders are confident that more troops will create a more powerful surge that will end the conflict quicker, I would say that the troop increase will be beneficial. However, since Jenny did not seem to get a sense of confidence from military officials' quotes, I don't think that they (as in the military leaders) quite agree with the surge either. My hope is the same as Jenny's... I hope that we can end this conflict successfully and quickly.
It is also good that we are fighting the war on terrorism mainly in lands outside our borders, while US soil stays relatively untouched by Al-Qaida linked terrorism. One might argue that the ever so often airplane attacks/attempts are direct attacks on US soil, but I feel that these attacks do not hold a candle to the immensity of the conflict in Afghanistan. Troops everyday are dying on either fronts, and it seems that we need to finish the fight more than ever.
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