This appears to be a bluff, issues appears to distill down to how soon does our cut and run from Afghanistan become total.
Anthony Cordesman
Washington Post, 15 January 2012
…withdrawal of U.S. and allied troops from Afghanistan could plunge that country into a recession or depression by the end of 2014 unless Kabul receives a massive new aid package. Afghanistan would need major assistance to compensate for the phaseout of U.S. and allied military spending that has kept its economy alive during the past 10 years of war, to pay for the services its government must provide to win and retain the loyalty of its people, to pay for the military and security forces it must develop, and to sustain the government until the Taliban and other insurgents are defeated or accept a political settlement.
Phi Beta Iota: For Cordesman to focus on Afghanistan going into a recession while ignoring the fact that the US is in a depression and heading for a major collapse in 2013-2014 is to celebrate the insanity and amoral idiocy of the Washington environment. America desperately needs to pull back, consolidate, restore its core values, and live to fight another day. We are at 22.4% unemployment going toward 40%. There is NO ONE now running for President or pretending to be President (the incumbent) who combines both intelligence and integrity on all the core issues. This includes Ron Paul, who is great on Liberty but ignores General Welfare. The Preamble to the Constitution is provided below as a reference point:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
