The Secret Details of Obama’s Afghan Plan
Les Gelb, who I rarely agree with but always find to be an interesting read has used his insider sources to go slightly further than what most mainstream media sources have confirmed. We know that there will be a troop increase of 30,000-36,000 and a change in strategy. Yet we don’t know how many of these troops will be designated to train the Afghan forces nor what parts of Obama’s plan will be conditioned upon Hamid Karzai cleaning up his government. Leslie is right for once. I have maintained that Karzai poses as much of a problem to the United States as does the Taliban and al Qaeda. Kabul, and not Washington, must take the lead in fighting terrorism in the region in the coming years. Most conspicuous is the absence of what the economic and developmental commitments will be. As I argue, these are key to disabling terror and creating an Afghanistan that will be a reliable ally, allowing us to draw out our troops and focus on spending on solving our problems at home.
