Comments on: Pitching COIN in Afghanistan

By: U.S. Defense Spending Too High?

U.S. Defense Spending Too High? — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:42:07 +0000

[...] of the Army and Marine Corps and build all manner of capabilities we don’t have. That, as Dave Schuler noted yesterday, will be [...]

By: Franklin

Franklin — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:42:55 +0000

We are where we are, but it would be nice if chickenhawk politicians could learn a lesson from this as well. There will never be public support for endless war. One has to think about this before starting an endless war.

As for what to do now, I have more faith in Petraeus and Gates than McCain and Lieberman.

By: sam

sam — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:20:52 +0000

I don't what next, but it had better be good. The stakes are now really high. I just had a thought that if Swat were to be duplicated throughout Pakistan, I'd lay odds that within 24 hours, India would launch a preemptive nuclear strike.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:57:19 +0000

I agree that we are where we are. The question is what next?

By: sam

sam — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:53:59 +0000

But Dave, given 911 and what we came to know about the perpetrators, I don't think any American president could have done anything different. But another American president might not have weakened our effort in Afghanistan by haring off into the Iraq misadventure. But that's history and now we are where we are.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:47:46 +0000

One of the several reasons that I opposed the invasion of Afghanistan was that I have never believed that Afghanistan and Pakistan could be considered separately.

By: sam

sam — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:38:41 +0000

Were it just Afghanistan by itself, I might be tempted to say let's give it a decent effort, then if the results aren't in our favor, get out. But the conflict over there has evolved from chasing a bunch of terrorists out of the country to trying to prevent those same terrorists from taking over a country that well and truly has nukes: Pakistan. The fate of Pakistan and its WMD is now, I think, the real issue underlying our effort in Afghanistan. What we do, and how strongly we do it, in the latter might well determine the fate of former.