Is any effort being made to actually get us out of there? With the great recession and whatnot, no one seems particularly enthused about spending billions a month in that far-away shithole. Surely it would be valuable politically in the 2012 elections if Obama actually managed to end this war after four years in office, and it would appear more fiscally responsible than doing a pay freeze for gov jobs.
So how’s that going, anyway?
From what I’ve read and seen we are trying to do the same sorts of things that stabilized things in Iraq. Having the troops go out and meet with tribal leaders and every day people. Stuff like that. Afghanistan is much more fragmented, however, and they also went through a long period of civil war, so the results have been a lot more mixed.
As for getting us out of there, I don’t believe that attempting to do so at this point would win Obama a lot of political capital in 2012 except from those who would undoubtedly vote for him anyway. The war isn’t going to be resolved in a couple of months, and we aren’t going to be able to pull significant troops out of there, not unless we cut and run. Personally, I’d say we SHOULD cut and run at this point, but doing so wouldn’t help Obama in the slightest…in fact, it might be the thing that manages to lose him the next election.
-XT
The problem with fixing Afghanistan is that you can’t do that without fixing Pakistan. And that’s something we’re not going to do.
Not to mention that the whole idea of “fixing” another country is extremely difficult. It’s impossible when those countries don’t want to be “fixed” the way want them to be. From Pakistan’s perspective, the war being fought there is essentially a proxy war for it’s hostilities towards India. And that’s a whole 'nuther can of worms.
I don’t see light at the end of this tunnel. Afghanistan makes Iraq seem like Luxembourg.