At the risk of giving some of my readers a heart attack, I'm going to cite a Fox News article, because I think it provides the best summation I've found yet.
It has been reported that the US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, has expressed to the President serious reservations about sending additional troops to Afghanistan to bolster a government seen as corrupt and illegitimate by many.
Retired Lt. Gen. Eikenberry is no State Department wallflower, though. His appointment was considered unusual because he was a career Army officer. He once held the job that Gen. McChrystal does now and previously helped stand up Afghanistan's first reconstituted army corps. During the Bush Administration, General Eikenberry was a staunch advocate of increasing troop levels in Afghanistan to meet the "resurgent" Taliban fighting force and fought to prevent a planned troop reduction in 2005.
Given the recent resignation of Matthew Hoh, an OIF Marine combat veteran, from the Foreign Service over similar concerns, the last thing we should do now is rush into a decision with such grave consequences. I'll note that both Eikenberry and senior administration adviser Richard Holbrooke offered Hoh a job on their respective staffs because they could not find fault with most of what Hoh had to say.
When men like Eikenberry and Hoh, with their experience and knowledge, are telling us that an Iraq-style surge in Afghanistan might not work and that our strategic best interests are not being served, we should be listening. Unless we have clearly stated goals in the country with an equally clear strategy for achieving them, Afghanistan will foil us just as it did the British and the Soviets before.
Cross-posted at A World With No Boundaries.
It has been reported that the US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, has expressed to the President serious reservations about sending additional troops to Afghanistan to bolster a government seen as corrupt and illegitimate by many.
Retired Lt. Gen. Eikenberry is no State Department wallflower, though. His appointment was considered unusual because he was a career Army officer. He once held the job that Gen. McChrystal does now and previously helped stand up Afghanistan's first reconstituted army corps. During the Bush Administration, General Eikenberry was a staunch advocate of increasing troop levels in Afghanistan to meet the "resurgent" Taliban fighting force and fought to prevent a planned troop reduction in 2005.
Given the recent resignation of Matthew Hoh, an OIF Marine combat veteran, from the Foreign Service over similar concerns, the last thing we should do now is rush into a decision with such grave consequences. I'll note that both Eikenberry and senior administration adviser Richard Holbrooke offered Hoh a job on their respective staffs because they could not find fault with most of what Hoh had to say.
When men like Eikenberry and Hoh, with their experience and knowledge, are telling us that an Iraq-style surge in Afghanistan might not work and that our strategic best interests are not being served, we should be listening. Unless we have clearly stated goals in the country with an equally clear strategy for achieving them, Afghanistan will foil us just as it did the British and the Soviets before.
Cross-posted at A World With No Boundaries.
Gee, a voice of reason. Damned refreshing, I must say. And hes ex-military as well.
Amen! I could not agree more!