Peter Galbraith: Afghanistan Troop Surge 'Makes No Sense'

[walt3934]

Afghanistan will always be a "failed state" irrespective of what the US does. Every American life lost in the cause to effect a change in this part of the World is simply wasted. The people who are responsible for American Foreign Policy should listen to people like Andrew Bacevich.

[BigPurple121]

Why doesn't Europe pick up some of this slack?

I'm so sick of free riding Europeans. The US should cut a deal with the international extremists: feel free to launch terror attacks against anyone except the US.

[JBeatty17]

Because Europe recognizes a lost cause when they see one. Change comes from within, not from without.

[kelseywall]

If America pulls out of Afghanistan, guess who moves in? China.

[charlie44441]

Do you really think China is as stupid as the U.S. and go into Afghanistan? China owns the U.S. because they don't do stupid things like that.

[kelseywall]

You mean like invading Tibet? Or joining the war in Korea? Yeah, you're probably right. What could they possibly gain from occupying Afghanistan, other than an excellent pipeline for oil.

[PersonalJesus348]

Stop the wars

[stevewalker12321]

Was she drunk?

[MaladaptiveCatalyst]

so Mr. galbraith is advocating a perpetual presence of U.S. troops by saying No Surge, but No Pull Out? If i want to prevent getting my girlfriend pregnant, i pull out.

[DemonicGemini]

it looks like this war is going nowhere Nam all over

[3star2nr]

republicans would love that shit.

We need to just leave and use air strikes like we're doing in pakistan

[HerbertHKohl]

Air strikes kill civilians dude.

[3star2nr]

and what were doing right now isnt?

[allanxxx99]

Right...

Don't pull out

Don't ramp up

Don't leave it as is...

Umm, what then?

[3star2nr]

i already said we need to get out and leave it to the people of afghanistan to chose who they want to lead them.

Do surgical strikes on alqaeda members like were already doing in Pakistan.

Or forget about alqaeda all together and leave them alone, and defend our selves if we get attacked.

[micahgee]

"surgical strikes" aren't very surgical. The weapons are only as accurate as our intelligence. Who exactly knows who is Al-Qaeda firing a missile from a drone from thousands of miles away. It further insulates the killing, turns it into a video game =S

The explosion radius and shrapnel ARE killing civilians because of "surgical" strikes. To pretend that we are killing only "terrorists" is to deny the laws of physics, the documented evidence and the cruel reality of the US attacks

[Fareslols]

And kill twice as many civilians as we do insurgents. THERE IS NO FLAW IN THIS PLAN, LOOKS GOOD... MOVE ALONG.

[micahgee]

yea we "need" to kill thousands of people with no legal basis for doing so. Great idea...

Imagine if Americans were getting blow up from missiles out of the sky, with no warning? Imagine them hitting every day!

Americans talk about war so causally because they have never been devastated by war in over a Century. This arrogance, fueled by our military power leads us to think that we can kill our way out of any problem.

More missiles and more drones wont win. We lost already, sorry to say =S

[3star2nr]

Imagine not being able to go to work without first going through several military check points.

Imagine showing up to work, and seeing the vacant desk of a co worker. Then finding out he was killed last night going through the same check point you did, soldiers mistook him for a terrorist.

more troops and staying isnt the answer.

my ideal would be to pull out now, and go back to figiting wars the old way. Defend ourself if attacked, and go after te people who do it.

[MadDogOfist]

Really? How enlightening.

[hellshade2]

russia could'nt win in afghanistan i don't know what makes us think we can. it's like a money pit. just keep pouring more in....

[sennapods]

You know why russia couldnt win in afghanistan? because america was secretly supplying the mujahadeen with weapons, training to use those weapons, etc. its not farfetched to think that the taliban is being similarly supported by a foreign power.

[maskedphrogg]

Yeah, that's part of hellshade2's point. No one in more than 2 thousand years have beat the Tuks on their home turf. Playing two sides against the middle will be shown once again to be an effective strategy. Proxy wars are so much fun.

Who thought the Cold War ended during Reagan's admin, show of hands please.

[junkforkaryn]

bring everyone home and let pakistan fight the fucking taliban with the billions we gave them. in fact, stop all foreign aid, period. save the american people FIRST!

[hellshade2]

i agree with stopping foreign aid, starting with israel. they always have thier hand out for money and weapons and never do a damn thing we ask of them....

[junkforkaryn]

indeed. let israel deal with iran. they won't get their shit together no matter what we give them. the toughest and strongest action the united states could take in the world at this point is to withdraw and regroup. we should just sit back and heal ourselves. let's see if these ball-less shit heads go all nukey on one another--i bet they wouldn't.

[snarkwaupaca]

There are more than a handful of American corporations that would like to have a word with you junkforkaryn? Your idealistic views may result in decreased profits.

[junkforkaryn]

lol. what's so funny about idealistic capitalism! (or peace love and understanding for that matter)

[snarkwaupaca]

JunkforKaryn: Capitalism is for rich people who can live on $1MIllion/Year. I'm talking state sponsored corporatism. That's where the real money is made.

[junkforkaryn]

wow. you actually know rich people who can live on 1 mil. a year? i have friends who cried when their net worth went down 3-5 mil. this past year. i pretty much hate everyone at this point.

[navtel]

get out of afghanistan.. simple as that.. another american bullsh*t war.

[Mauhadeeb28]

Get out of all countries.

[snarkwaupaca]

Mauhadeeb: You want me to live on a boat?

[Mauhadeeb28]

lol no. O meant for the military to get out of other countries.