Robinson: A difficult line in Afghanistan
Now that Dr. Abdullah Abdullah has dropped out of the runoff election leaving the path clear for Hamid Karzai to remain President, the next major decision point on the Afghanistan war — whether the U.S. should pledge more troops — can be expected within weeks, if not days. Gen. Stanley McChrystal has stated that he requires 40,000 more U.S. soldiers to have even the potential of turning the tide in the war and has received some support from the Secretaries of State and Defense, but the Vice President and the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are arguing for a reorientation...
Fine, but that is a sunk cost. The article is about going forward, not looking backwards.
Hooah, Captain Robinson - nice to read an informed analysis. My original opinion on Afghanistan was that we should be committed there, and hard, but for those interested in getting different perspectives, the recent resignation (and reasoning) of Matthew Hoh, a USMC Captain and diplomat, is also interesting. Google is your friend.
My thoughts are with all of those in theatre and their families and friends here at home. Stay safe, guys.
Obviously, Mr. Robinson did his homework on the various players in Afghanistan. However, IMO the original military approach to bringing the perpetrators of 9-11 to justice was wrong. Instead it should have been a police action: go in while the trail was still warm and capture perferably or kill bin Ladin, Zarwaheri and others suspected to be participants with an international coalition of police forces and then try them. The Bush approach of actually dithering in Afghanistan while sending many times more troops into Iraq allowed those behind 9-11 to go unpunished.