“The record is clear: Dick Cheney and the Bush administration were incompetent war fighters. They ignored Afghanistan for 7 years with a crude approach to counter-insurgency warfare best illustrated by: 1. Deny it. 2. Ignore it. 3. Bomb it. While our intelligence agencies called the region the greatest threat to America, the Bush White House under-resourced our military efforts, shifted attention to Iraq, and failed to bring to justice the masterminds of September 11.

“The only time Cheney and his cabal of foreign policy ‘experts’ have anything to say is when they feel compelled to protect this failed legacy. While President Obama is tasked with cleaning up the considerable mess they left behind, they continue to defend torture or rewrite a legacy of indifference on Afghanistan. Simply put, Mr. Cheney sees history throughout extremely myopic and partisan eyes.

“As one deeply invested in the Armed Forces of this country, I am grateful for the senior military commanders assigned to leading this fight and the men and women fighting on the ground. But I dismiss men like Cheney who inject partisan politics into the profound deliberations our Commander-in-Chief and commanders on the ground are having to develop a cohesive and comprehensive strategy, bringing to bear the economic and diplomatic as well as the military power, for Afghanistan — something Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld never did.

“No human endeavor can be as profound as sending a nation’s youth to war. I am very happy to see serious men and women working hard to get it right.”

http://www.nsnetwork.org/node/1442

c. The Obama Administration must rapidly extend resources to General McCrystal in Afghanistan so that the pincer movement against the regional Taliban can happen at the same time. Now that the Pakistanis are on the offensive in Waziristan, NATO and Afghan forces must take the offensive on the other side of the border. The Taliban must not be enabled to fight one adversary at a time, by massing all their resources in two countries against one foe then move to the next.

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Abbas confirmed that Pakistani authorities have an “understanding” with two Taliban factions based in Waziristan, led by warlords Maulvi Nazir and Gul Bahadur, who’re fighting in Afghanistan , not in Pakistan .

“There was an understanding with them that they will not interfere in this war,” Abbas said. “There is always a strategy to isolate your main target.” He added that people “sometimes have to talk to the devil in this regard.”
The U.S. has provided Pakistan with night-vision devices and other equipment, but a senior American defense official told McClatchy on Monday that the U.S.-led international force in Afghanistan isn’t directly supporting or coordinating with the Pakistani operation, merely “observing.”

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While emphasizing that the military was achieving its targets ahead of schedule, General Abbas did acknowledge that Taliban militants — whose numbers he estimated to be 5,000 to 10,000, along with 1,000 foreigners — were putting up stiff resistance.

Troops managed to secure the northern Sherwangi area after an intense battle. “After heavy fighting, a number of terrorists were killed and their positions captured,” General Abbas said.

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Ya think NATO would be working the other side offensively but is reported in the Media? (shhh!)

Everyone here is an idiot, trying to give their two cents about war when NONE of you have been in it!
My husband has been over there(back and forth) for SIX YEARS!!!!!

Just LEARN something about the culture of the MIddle East and about the extremists. THEN make a statement that you think is intelligent.
Until then, just shut UP.

Your children are the real heroes of this country.
The men and women who sacrifice their lives for honor and duty and love of country.
God Bless them and God Bless YOU.
And God Bless this Country!!!

It is still pure BS to say BO “inherited” Bush’s war. It’s an excuse for weak minded people to not take the responsility required of the office. He ran for the office, he asked for the job, with many lining up behind him blinded to his fraudulent ways and lake of any relevent experience.

You despise the “man”? Is that the measure of it? Why did you place the word ‘man’ in quotes? Because he isn’t one or because it’s the idea of Obama?

I never supported the U-turn in Iraq. That was Bush’s war for whatever reason. Afghanistan might have been winnable early on but I’ve heard military guys say that it would take a good 15 years to get our arms around the present situation.

I think few Americans are willing to sign on for that. And we’ve lost more lives in the ongoing wars than we did in the original attacks.

Years ago, I remember reading a statement from Osama while he was fighting against the Soviets. He said he and his crew would bankrupt the Soviets; that was their goal.

Well, they succeeded. And look where the US is today after years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. For all practical purposes, we’re also bankrupt.

The question is: who won? And where, oh where is Osama Bin Laden? Wherever he is, he’s probably laughing his ass off.

My problem with Obama are his statements six months ago that Afghanistan was a “war we couldn’t afford to lose.”

But now we can? This man’s indecision and confusing positions could easily get us all killed.

I love it!

“But then, we didn’t expect much from the middle finger, 99 problems and a bitch ain’t one of them, vulgar neophyte.”

Well said.