… but what will it be?
By Christina Hill
A poll done by CBS News stated only 38 percent of Americans support how President Obama’s is handling the Afghanistan war.
He’s stated many times that he wants to take the time in order be sure the right decisions are made in the right way.
Tonight, NPR has confirmed that Obama will give a speech entailing his decisions next Tuesday.
We can assume that Obama’s plan will not include the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. This is not something that should shock anyone. While we don’t know how large the surge will be, we can be certain that there will be one. The Pentagon’s already preparing for this by creating new bases in Afghanistan and revamping the ones already there.
Tom Engelhardt noted these items in a piece he wrote. The article was featured on CBS today and Engelhardt wrote his own version of the speech Obama should give.
Engelhardt’s speech ultimately states that Obama will not send troops to Afghanistan. He believes that Obama clarify that he has brought troops back from Iraq and will do so in Afghanistan.
While this situation is ideal, it is unlikely. Engelhardt has seven points that he believes are the reason that Obama should pull out troops in Afghanistan. They have been shortened and listed below, the full list can be found in his article.
“1. We have no partner in Afghanistan…
2. Afghanistan floats in a culture of corruption…
3. Despite billions of dollars of American money poured into training the Afghan security forces, the army is notoriously understrength and largely ineffective; the police forces are riddled with corruption and held in contempt by most of the populace…
4. The Taliban insurgency is spreading and gaining support largely because the Karzai regime has been so thoroughly discredited, the Afghan police and courts are so ineffective and corrupt, and reconstruction funds so badly misspent…
5. Al-Qaeda is no longer a significant factor in Afghanistan…
6. Our war in Afghanistan has become the military equivalent of a massive bail-out of a firm determined to fail…
7. Our all-volunteer military has for years now shouldered the burden of our two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “
Engelhardt makes seven valid points. However, we still have another week of finger tapping and hypothesizing before we find out Obama’s decision.
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