{"id":3637,"date":"2010-12-16T16:07:10","date_gmt":"2010-12-17T00:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=3637"},"modified":"2010-12-16T16:07:10","modified_gmt":"2010-12-17T00:07:10","slug":"afghanis-dont-believe-the-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2010\/12\/16\/afghanis-dont-believe-the-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanis Don’t Believe the Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

The President announced today that the strategy in Afghanistan is working.  Now, I can\u2019t blame Obama for escalating the war, because he stated his intent during his campaign, and I knew it when I voted for him.  But as it became clear that our presence exacerbates the conflict more than it helps it, and as it became clear that our COIN strategy cannot succeed with a thoroughly corrupt partner in Karzai, he needed to recognize those changes and act accordingly.  Most of all, the American people deserve the truth, not a lie.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\"16map-Afghanistan\"During the military offensive into Kandahar this past fall, Arghandab district proved one of the most deadly for NATO and Afghan forces. Some NATO units here saw half of their soldiers killed or injured by mines, roadside bombs, and firefights<\/strong>. The district governor, Haji Abdul Jabbar, was assassinated in June. Just days after The New York Times reported that coalition forces were \u201crouting\u201d the Taliban in Arghandab this October, the photographer for the story lost both his legs when he stepped on a land mine.<\/p>\n

Yet, as the annual quiet of winter sets in, a number of Arghandab residents say these sacrifices were not in vain.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore, we did not have security,\u201d says Haji Shah Mohammad Ahmadi, the new Arghandab district governor. Until recently, residents in nearly half of the villages in his district were unable to reach his office due to the ongoing fighting, but \u201cnow the security is OK. Everyone can come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

That assessment matches with the United States’ Afghan war review, released today, which points to limited military progress that has stalled, if not reversed, Taliban gains. Yet the question remains: Can these gains hold into next spring and beyond, and does success in the south translate to nationwide progress across Afghanistan<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Already there are signs that the answer to both these questions may be no<\/strong>. The increased pressure in the south has pushed the insurgency into the north<\/strong> and the Taliban appear to be growing from a largely local movement into an organization with national appeal. Progress in strengthening the Afghan government, seen as a vital component of maintaining any security improvements, has been anything but steady, which is perhaps most troublesome to war planners. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf the government doesn\u2019t … expand the rule of law through all the districts, I think that when spring returns, the Taliban will sneak inside the districts again and their presence will increase day by day<\/strong>," says Hazratmir Totakhil, director of Kandahar University\u2026 [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <Christian Science Monitor<\/a>><\/p>\n

The Karzai government does not spread the rule of law, even in areas where it is strongest.  The only things it spreads are graft and corruption.  Add to that that most Afghanis don\u2019t even know about 9\/11 and see us as just the latest in a long line of aggressors against them, I say again that pulling the plug on this war is past due.  It is such a good recruiting tool for radical jihadists, that it is a detriment to our national security.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The President announced today that the strategy in Afghanistan is working.  Now, I can\u2019t blame Obama for escalating the war, because he stated his intent during his campaign, and I knew it when I voted for him.  But as it became clear that our presence exacerbates the conflict more than it helps it, and as […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}