Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Second "Surge" Needed In Afghanistan?

by JASmius



Yes, that, too, is a rhetorical question.  The thing that's entertaining about it is that O's top generals are increasingly coming right out and saying what they think, and their "superior" doesn't want to hear, publicly instead of being toadying yes-men to the C-in-C who is sabotaging the mission they were given over fourteen years ago:

The top U.S. and NATO military commander in Afghanistan may seek additional American troops to help local forces as they struggle to contain the Taliban insurgency, USA Today is reporting.

Aaaaaaaand why is the Taliban insurgency....surging?  Because Barack Obama told them when we were going to leave, including the full troop draw-down schedule in exacting detail, communicating that he does not and never did want to carry on that war and they know it and are rubbing his face in it in the full confidence that he'll quit Afghanistan anyway because losing wars is what he does.

Aaaaaaaand now his theater commander is piping up and saying that he needs a fresh infusion of U.S. troops in order to prop up the fiction that the "Afghan government" can handle the Taliban on their own, which, if that were true, they would have years ago and U.S. troops could have been withdrawn on the same time frame.

Maybe O will spend an extra week in Hawaii until his quaking rage subsides.

General John Campbell's interview with the newspaper comes as the security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated in the second half of 2015, with an increase in insurgent attacks and higher casualties among both Taliban and national forces.

Who cares about Taliban casualties?  That's what they do.  And, by the way, al Qaeda has already reoccupied their old bases in Afghanistan.  And you know what THAT means.

Already, Barack Obama has backtracked on a pledge to pull out all but 1,000 troops, and in October he announced that 9,800 US forces would remain in Afghanistan until the end of 2016.

Campbell told USA Today he would ask the Obama administration to keep that higher number of troops in country as long as possible and suggested he might call for more U.S. personnel.

"If I don't believe that we can accomplish the train, advise and assist and the (counter-terrorism) missions, then I owe it to the senior leadership to come back and say, 'Here's what I need.' If that's more people, it's more people," Campbell told the newspaper.

No, you're supposed to be a sychophantic, cringing boot-licker and palm-frond waver.  Didn't you read the job description your big-eared, mom-jeaned boss gave you?

The 9,800 U.S. troops are scheduled to be drawn down to 5,500 by January 1, 2017.

"My intent would be to keep as much as I could, for as long as I could," Campbell said.

I admire you, General.  But you know as well as we do that it won't be enough.

If you ever wondered if there was an additional reason for the high rate of turnover in General Campbell's job, you're looking at it.

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