Its over: US NATO formally announcing ‘transition’ to Afghan withdrawal
Pakistan Patriot
Posted on 14 November 2010
The Obama administration and its NATO allies will declare late this week that the war in Afghanistan has made sufficient progress to begin turning security control over to its government by spring, months before the administration’s July deadline to start withdrawing U.S. troops, according to U.S. and European officials.
Even as it announces the “transition” process, which will not immediately include troop withdrawals, NATO will also state its intention to keep combat troops in Afghanistan until 2014, a date originally set by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
The seemingly contradictory messages, in communiques and agreements to be released at NATO’s upcoming summit in Lisbon, are intended to reassure U.S. and European audiences that the process of ending the war has begun.
At the same time, the coalition wants to signal to the Taliban – along with Afghans and regional partners who fear a coalition withdrawal, and Republicans in Congress who oppose it – that they are not leaving anytime soon.
Karzai wants U.S. to reduce military operations in Afghanistan
Washington Post
Sunday, November 14, 2010; 12:52 AM
KABUL- President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday that the United States must reduce the visibility and intensity of its military operations in Afghanistan and end the increased U.S. Special Operations forces night raids that aggravate Afghans and could exacerbate the Taliban insurgency.
Rest of article and also a photo gallery….
Phi Beta Iota: Deja vu…we have the uneasy feeling that Brzezinski and whoever is still whispering in Obama's ear is pulling a Kissinger–four more years will kill thousands more at a cost we cannot afford for a purpose we have never legitimately defined.
Journal: Taliban Tet a Tet + Tet Offensive
Journal: AF BODY COUNT–$50 Million Per Body
Journal: US War Policy Enters the Rubber Room
Review: The Trial of Henry Kissinger
Review: Politics Lost–How American Democracy Was Trivialized By People Who Think You’re Stupid
