In his weekly address, President Obama promised to withdraw U.S. troops by the end of 2014 and to start wasting money here at home, instead of over in Afghanistan.
“After more than a decade of war,” he said,” it is time to focus on nation building here at home.” He added that America has been successful in Afghanistan, and that he is bringing the war to a close victoriously.
But the President’s remarks were misleading and carefully phrased to benefit his reelection campaign. The truth is, the war has been an utter failure, it will continue long after 2014, and it will continue to cost the U.S. exorbitant sums of money as Americans struggle in a down economy.
After recalling his recent trip to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Obama claimed “the tide of war has turned in Afghanistan. We have broken the Taliban’s momentum. We’ve built strong Afghan Security Forces.” Except none of those things are true.
The tide of war has not turned. For virtually every six month period since the beginning of the surge in 2009, the rate of bloodshed and violence has increased considerably. Last year saw a rise in overall violence for the fifth year in a row.
As for the Taliban’s momentum, it has not been broken. In a report submitted last Tuesday to Congress, the Pentagon acknowledged a “resilient” Taliban and many analysts have predicted at least a partial return to power by the Taliban.
In January, the National Intelligence Estimate concluded the war is still a “stalemate,” that the Taliban are still strong, that Washington has propped up a government plagued by pervasive corruption and illiberal policies, etc.
Finally, the Afghan security forces are neither strong, competent, nor independent. Afghan troops consistently get into gun battles with their American and NATO counterparts and less than 1 percent of them can operate independently, without NATO guidance.
Obama also misrepresented this so-called withdrawal date of 2014. The deal he signed with Kabul would maintain a significant U.S. presence in Afghanistan until at least 2024. The U.S. will continue the war, including conducting night raids and drone strikes into Pakistan, well beyond this 2014 date. And it will continue to cost billions of dollars.
america`s cutass is booked in Afganistan they have already been beaten to a standstill there and like the british before them left in shame with their tail between their legs.
Does this mean the AUMF has finished!
Seriously!
I would not have problem if Obama were to declare victory and withdraw from Afghanistan. The problem is Obama is declaring victory, and is still maintaining a US military presence in Afghanistan.
A "presence in Afghanistan until 2024" is unsettleing. A majority of Afghans, (not the collaborators on the US payroll), will never accept what is essentially a foreign occupation until 2024.
It is time to end this shameful, phoney war on terror. Ignoring the mouthpieces from the NYT and other of administration propagandists, the Afghans had nothing to do with 9/11. We have learned that during the summer of 2001, at a conference in Berlin and months prior to 9/11, US officials told Pakistan's Foreign Minister Niaz Naik, that they "would attack Afghanistan before the snow flies in October." The phony excuse over the Taliban playing host to Osama bin Laden has been revealed as the Taliban made many overtures to surrender Osama bin Laden (another US justification for war)to the Bush gang but were ignored at each and every turn.
The Russians were goin to stay longer too……………..
What? Obama lied? I'm shocked…shocked!
Sadly, John, everything you say is true – probably understated too. But, my opinion (yeah, I know) is that given the alternative in the none to soon upcoming election, things could be worse. Romney has surrounded himself and is taking his advice from all the failed neocons who "guided" Dubya ignominiously down the rosey path to the history books. And looking down the road to the following election, it doesn't get any better – probably worse still.
And, no, the only way Ron Paul gets into the White House is by written invitation – unless he pulls a "Salahi." The powers-that-be will do whatever it takes to keep him out…sorry to disappoint the fanboys.
So, until a "white knight" comes out of the woodwork, unfortunately, we are left with the lesser of evils – and that is the sad part. Makes one wonder if the pols are all pwned….snark.
OOOOOOOO Yeah………. Afghanistan not so easy to tame…..!!! They will let us bribe them, but they use our bribes to buy RPGs Kalashnikovs and fertilizer for the poppies and IEDs… They use every "incident" to further alienate their people from the hapless occupiers, and the more alienated the people become, the more the occupiers sense hostility, which cause more confrontations, so more "incidents" inevitably occur……. causing more hatred…… on and on…. The Afghans are there, and it costs them, nothing to stay there, they might even be able to get some aid or snatch a laptop or some other equipment… Fuel cost us $400.00 a gallon http://www.newser.com/story/134792/in-afghanistan… ……………… That's $400.00 BEFORE Pakistan closed it's border to us….. How much does fuel cost now..??
"Pentagon officials said using a northern route to supply the war is costing the U.S. $104 million a month. That's an increase of $87 million from when supplies were sent through Pakistan." HHMMMMMmmm………….. Was 17 & lt's NOW 104 million … W0W…!! SIX point one times as much… Fuel was $400 a gal. before and the closing raised costs 6.1 times…… IS FUEL NOW $2,447.00 per gallon…??? The Hummer H2 Fuel Tank holds 32 gallons, X $2447.15 = $78,305.89 http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2012/January/War…
It's costing us trillions to be there and lose………..
But we're not fighting the Taliban, according to Biden and Obama? What happened to al-qaida, that margolis says was in Pakistan, and started in 1980. Funny according to Richard Clarke, he knew of al-qaida as early as 1993, to think all these guys had to do was talk to Eric Margolis. How much more garbage can the public possibly take.