Today we learn why Washington fiddles as Afghanistan burns:
President Obama is exploring alternatives to a major troop increase in Afghanistan, including a plan advocated by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scale back American forces and focus more on rooting out Al Qaeda there and in Pakistan, officials said Tuesday…
Among the alternatives being presented to Mr. Obama is Mr. Biden’s suggestion to revamp the strategy altogether. Instead of increasing troops, officials said, Mr. Biden proposed scaling back the overall American military presence. Rather than trying to protect the Afghan population from the Taliban, American forces would concentrate on strikes against Qaeda cells, primarily in Pakistan, using special forces, Predator missile attacks and other surgical tactics.
Well, that should win hearts and minds.
The Vice President – who has a much higher IQ than you – fancies himself as something of a foreign policy expert, although it is difficult to understand on what grounds. His most memorable foreign policy recommendation came in 2007, when he proposed a scheme to divide then-simmering Iraq into three provinces; Shia, Sunni and Kurdish. This plan won bipartisan backing in the Senate, with its only real drawback being that it was entirely unworkable, disregarding as it did the sentiments of the Iraqi population. They were quite happy to wreak mayhem among themselves, but would never have accepted the division of their country by a foreign power.
No more than the combative Pashtun tribes of the Afghan population would accept the continued occupation of foreign forces dedicated only to “surgical” attacks against their people. No more than the Pakistani body politic – already incensed at serial attacks upon their sovereignty – would be willing to suffer Predator drones and SOF playing whack-a-mole from Afghan bases in perpetuity, since they consider Afghanistan to be their “strategic depth” against mortal enemy India.
Some experts never learn.
Good. I like advice from the guy who insisted the only solution to Iraq was to break up the country into three, Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish, an idea that the Iraqis promptly labeled as ridiculous. Biden makes me fervently wish for Obama’s good health, and that’s sad.
Oops. Didn’t see that Lex had made the same point in his post. As Rosana Rosanadana said … never mind.
Thank you Emily, but close enough.
Jane you B****!
Iraq may end up broken into Sunni, Shia and Kurd areas (Kurds would like that), but if so it will be determined internally, not imposed by a external power.
I was not aware of Pakistan perceiving the AF to be of any strategic value regarding India.
If AF were physically between Pakistan and India (see WWII and Germany, Poland, Russia) I could see that idea, but it is not.
How does this rationale go? Paks think they could withdraw into AF if things went bad with India? I shouldn’t think the Af’s in general would be especially pleased with that idea.
Well, there are any number of articles online that you can peruse on this topic. The Pakistani military – and hence, the Pakistani body politic – has been obsessed with India ever since the dissolution of the Raj and the subsequent partition. The Pashtun tribes straddle the Hindu Kush, and the Durand Line that divides Pakistan from Afghanistan is viewed by many of those in the region as a foreign imposition.
It’s no great distance from the Indian border to Islamabad, and there are few natural lines of defense. Thus we have 80% of the Pakistani military arrayed on the border of India even while the Taliban was playing the fool in the NWFP and even Swat.
The nightmare scenario (from the Pakistani perspective) is an armored thrust across with no allies to their rear in the west. Thus, the Taliban regime was actively sponsored by the Pakistani military and government in order to ensure a safe line of retreat at worst, and at best an alliance allied to Pakistan’s strategic goals.
Thanks for the links.
Kind of hard to argue that the Durand Line is not a foreign imposition, since it is in fact just that.
Maybe if AF were effectively a Taliban controlled country they would let the Paks come into their country. Maybe. And then what? I shouldn’t think the Taliban would get into a military conflict with India as long as India didn’t enter AF.
Even if AF were an ally, how could it be one in anything but name? Though in the cause of Brotherhood, the Taliban would probably take over the burden of running Pak from the Paks were they allowed to.
Nukes on the table (Pak & India) make guessing a hazardous game.
Having to listen to Biden about anything makes my hair burst into flames.
Ah Joe–the fellow who never puts the clutch in before shifting his brain gears, and certainly never engages his brain before opening his mouth. He’s also living proof of the axiom that ignorance can be cured–but stupid is forever.
Or like a NASCAR driver who got wrecked this past Sunday by another who spun him out and into the wall: “He ran out of skill before he ran out of racing today”.
Remember …
Those were hair plugs that were inserted into Slow Joe’s head … not stem cells.
Edward’
That’s TRULY funny…verry witty. I is jealous.
In fact, come to think of it ah iz so jealous m’thimks I is gonna steal it and pass it around to all my friends as my very witty own.
That would be plagiarism in a good cause.
Or they could have been antenna to get messages from, well, wherever JB gets his “special” thoughts from.
Kind of like cats get messages from the kitty planet -which is why cats sometimes act without any perceptable rational basis.
It is reported that the White House staff is worried that The One is in danger of being compared to Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam experience.
I doubt that there is any real danger of that happening. Obama and Biden make Johnson and McNamara look like fricken military geniuses.
A small quibble… the Kurds themselves, IIRC, would have welcomed some measure of autonomy. Not too sure what the Turks would have said, but that’s another matter.
As an old man used to tell me:
“son, an ex is a has been, and a spurt is a drip under pressure. so don’t go mouthing off about being an expert”
Seems to fit Joe right nicely now don’t it?
You are all watching a disaster in the making. I’ll bet cash money that the adminsitration has already decided to cut and run. Now they’re just trying to figure out how to put some window dressing on it.
I really want to know what is going through the minds of active duty senior officers right now.
Wasn’t The VP a Senator during the last “Cut and Run” back in ’75?
Experience we can count on.
Do the Pakistanis really anticipate that India is just waiting for the right moment to invade Pakistan?
I didn’t say it was a rational concern, but there have been three major wars between the two countries. The possession of Kashmir is the ostensible reason for much of it, which of course has a religious aspect. And now of course the two sides have nukes, so there’s an existential element to go along with it.
Frankly, I think that Pakistan doesn’t have anything that India wants, apart perhaps from the prospect of peaceful relations. But then, what would Pakistan need such a powerful military for, if it didn’t have an enemy?
Lex, Kashmir is somewhat like the central valley of Calif., iirc, so there is the economic pull there too as much as the religious. If it was just religious India would probably let the place go as I think the maj. of pop.is actually Muslim. But there is also the pride factor as well, as Kashmir has historically been controlled/ruled by India. And of course, India regards it as a buffer zone against PK terrorists–although in theory if PK controlled Kashmir what’s left to bitch about, so terrorism should virtually cease as majority of incidents have ostensibly been to “free” Kashmir from Indias’ grip. Were I an Indian Hindu, however, I don’t think I’d bet the farm on it..
VX
Ft Leavenworth CGSC 1966, my dad was an instructor and we hosted 2 Pakistani officers during their tour. I can clearly remember them talking of their fear of India and especially the buddy-buddy relationship with the Soviets, this coming just after their latest war with India. They just knew the Russians were giving the Indians nukes. My dad had Kahn’s book “On Thermonuclear War” on the bookshelf, they borrowed and both read it. Always wondered where those two ended up.
Not a lot of brotherly love in that part of the world.
G-Man/
Or cultural either. As one Pakistani recently put it about the cultural divide: How CAN our two cultures be reconciled? They believe in three-thousand Gods–we believe in but one. They believe the cow is sacred and worship it–while we eat the cow. LOL.
[...] Lex calls this “fiddling as Afghanistan burns.” It’s an odd incomprehensible complaint, to me. Afghanistan has been burning while [...]
Pakistan is a place where evil grows.
“… the sentiments of the Iraqi population. They were quite happy to wreak mayhem among themselves, but would never have accepted the division of their country by a foreign power”
Oh, silliness. We effectively annexed most of Iraq to Iran. As soon as we leave the Sunnis, who will never accept submission to the majority Shi’a, will begin the age old bloodbath, and the Kurds will wish a pox on both houses. The Sunnis have been warming up this battle ever since we declared surge victory and the press left. I hate to ever agree with Biden, who has plagiarized much more than I ever have, but splitting them into three and backing the Kurds had tremendous strategic potential for wreaking mayhem on our enemies (think Iran and Syria), putting the fear of God into Turkey that our support will not be interminable and unconditional, and providing a tremendous drain on all those Sunni funds and wannabe muj–let them leave Europe, Minnesota and wherever else, and never come back. The regime in Tehran might find general repression a bit challenging when dealing with open rebellions in its north and south.
Creative mayhem, you might call it. For our benefit, for once.
They are reliable. At the drop of a hat they will massacre each other. Bombs are bad enough but these fucksticks murder little girls and call it honor.