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A tough slog ahead in Afghanistan

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor February 25, 2009 07:57 PM

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator John McCain come at the subject of Afghanistan from vastly different viewpoints.

But they agreed today that the Obama administration, which is sending 17,000 more US troops this spring to the war-torn country, faces a tough slog there.

"I have to give straight talk and that is I think things are going to get worse in Afghanistan before they get better," McCain said this afternoon at the American Enterprise Institute. "And so I think that it's very important that the president and members of Congress and other people in leadership and respected positions inform the American people that it's going to be a long and hard and tough."

Pelosi, who just returned from leading a congressional delegation to Afghanistan, called it "a tragedy."

In an interview airing tonight on MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show," Pelosi said the Bush administration, while waging war in Iraq, was "without a plan, adrift" for 7 1/2 years on Afghanistan, where Al Qaeda is believed to have re-established havens on the border with Pakistan.

"Everyone in the military says this cannot be accomplished militarily only. So it's about how we work with our allies in NATO for a military presence there that will be effective in our defeating the Taliban and eliminating Al Qaeda," she added. "It's about governance. It's about the government of Afghanistan and how legitimate, and reducing corruption and the whole poppy trade, the drug trade, the rest of that."

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I think the U.S. economy with the multinational companies is in the emergency room, entering into depression from the recent economic indexes, thereby the U.S should devote its entire efforts to the domestic concerns. As a matter of fact, the day one tainted with Gaza misery, the bold stimulus project with the extra armies, the sound budget proposal with the compromised retreat have brought about the cold responses in the stock market, which asks for clear standing.
At this moment, the most fearful threat may be not the rift surrounding oil, but the worsening world-wide recession and poverty, then the extra forces to Afghanistan and extending period of stay, excessive residual forces in Iraq need to be retracted to forgo the wasteful, unproductive spending.
'Energy Iindependence' combined with humanitarian aids and technical support for the reeling countries in a positive, productive way will be the most promising pathway to recovery as the global market is intertwined, and the U.S. is possessed with a lot of multinational firms, I believe.
Thanks.

Posted by hsr0601 February 28, 09 05:03 PM
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