Obama issues new Afghanistan military orders

FreeEnterprise wrote: If you announce the exit strategy at the same time you are putting in "new" troops, you are not looking to "win", but to appease.   This will be a mess. Many soldiers will die, and there is no clear direction to "win".   All the terrorists have to do is wait us out now...     This is the weakest President I have ever seen in my lifetime. Every decision (no matter how long it takes) is based on polling.

You're right. Since when did elected officials ever listen to the people who elected them?

Yeah a year and a half is a short timeline. Should be indefinite

rednekk98 wrote: From the cadets sleeping during his speech,

This is not a good indication of anything.  Cadets will sleep through any speech.  It's what we do. 

Word. Time is meaningless without accomplishments being made in the time given. 

An outstanding cover your 4th point of contact speech, in front of a "hostile camp". Never has a specific time frame for victory been contemplated by the military in any war from the first rock thrown in anger. Securing the urban centers is a proven a failed strategy. The enemy is in the hinterlands, and the only way to defeat that is boots on the ground and overwhelming force.

Yes this is a repeat of 1972, pretend to assist in a big push, claim a 'victory' and then leave the Afghans hanging as the Taliban and or Al Queda take over and we will not commit again, despite any agreement signed.

At one tine a General stated give me 6 months and a free hand and this is over in 6 months, but America is too used to 'nintendo' wars, and not willing to commit to what is needed.

30,000 troops is just peeing in a bucket compared to what is needed, 5 Divisions, and a full Armored Division, according to the wargames at the War College. Airpower and surgical strikes will not alone accomplish what is needed,

This will get messy, and the Taliban will win in the American living room and not on the field, been done once before, and the Taliban do read history better then most Americans.

Five to ten years, in other words.

Which means we're leaving this country a huge mess.

Bri- NPR recently had a really good series of interviews with U.S. State Department officials in Afghanistan, the ones on the group trying to actively find positive diplomatic relations with he Afghan people - establishing farming lands, supporting infastructure, etc. The most surprising part of it all was that they also interviewed soldiers. I expected the soldiers to sort of shrug off what the State Department workers were doing, I guess I thought they would see it as white-collar or something, but one soldier flat-out said that it would be those guys who win the war. To quote as best I can - "Our bullets won't be what wins over Afghanistan."