The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan offered a grim view Wednesday of military efforts in southern Afghanistan, warning that 17,000 new troops will take on emboldened Taliban insurgents who have “stalemated” U.S. and allied forces.
Army Gen. David McKiernan also predicted that the bolstered numbers of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan – about 55,000 in all – will remain near those levels for up to five years.
Still, McKiernan said, that is only about two-thirds of the number of troops he has requested to secure the war-torn nation.
“Ultimately, the conflict will be solved not by military force – but through the political will of the Afghan people, the general said.”
Didn’t we hear something like this about Iraq too? will Afghanistan become Obama’s Iraq? I believe Obama said he would go into Pakistan. They do have weapons of mass destruction. Will we be looking at the resumption of the draft too? I can still see those adds against Barry Goldwater with the mushroom cloud and my professors with their brief cases with stickers saying, “All the way with LBJ”. How about another war as a “stimulus package”? I hope not.