Gates: 2-4 years of big Afghan role for US troops

[peacebird]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert Gates says Americans should expect a significant U.S. military presence in Afghanistan for two years to four years more.

Just as in Iraq, the U.S. eventually will turn over provinces to local security forces, allowing the United States to bring the number of troops down steadily, according to Gates, who appeared on three Sunday talk shows with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to discuss President Barack Obama's new Afghan war plan.

That plan includes an increase of 30,000 U.S. troops, followed by a scheduled transition to a greater role for Afghan forces that would start in July 2011. Obama's plan would increase to 100,000 the number of U.S. troops there, marking the largest expansion of the war since it began eight years ago.
<snip>
The Pentagon chief said the initial U.S. troop withdrawal in July 2011 might involve only a small number of troops.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091206/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_afghanistan;_ylt=AjlD1cGwJa2kyNTrr8S_.S2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNjYnFiN21xBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMjA2L3VzX3VzX2FmZ2hhbmlzdGFuBGNjb2RlA3JhbmRvbQRjcG9zAzEEcG9zAzIEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3Rvcnk

[sakabatou]

1. 4 more years! 4 more years!

:puke:

[Arctic Dave]

2. 2-4 more years? So the 2011 withdrawal was the Happy, Happy, Sunshine Date.

aka, the greeting us with flowers and candy date.

Edit:
We can pretty much kiss off any type of healthcare reform or any other reforms for ourselves, that money needs to feed the war pigs.

[patrice]

8. He CAN'T actually get up there and say, "Hey, America, I work for TransNatCo/Oil" so

he told us first of all by committing to a deadline and not just any deadline, but one that is the best he can do under the circumstances FOR US, which of course has annoyed TPB, leading to this blowback from Gates.

[patrice]

17. 2011 was his bid. 2013+ is pushback from TransNatCoPB/MIC

[chill_wind]

21. Gates doesn't believe in Exit Strategies. He has said so.

Here's what he said in September. I doubt he's been reformed.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday it would be a "strategic mistake" for the U.S. to put a timeline or exit strategy on its presence in Afghanistan -- a position that appears to put him at direct odds with the president.

Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," Gates insisted that far from being a quagmire, Afghanistan was a country that could be pacified and stabilized if the right policy was adopted. One thing the United States should not do, he added, was set deadlines or outline an approach by which military forces would eventually leave the country.

"I think that -- that the notion of -- of timelines and exit strategies and so on, frankly, I think would all be a, a strategic mistake," said Gates. "The reality is, failure in Afghanistan would be a huge setback for the United States. Taliban and Al Qaeda, as far as they're concerned, defeated one superpower. For them to be seen to defeat a second, I think, would have catastrophic consequences in terms of energizing the extremist movement, Al Qaeda recruitment, operations, fundraising, and so on."

Skepticism with exit strategies is a vestige of the approach the Bush administration took to the war in Iraq, where it was routinely predicted that insurgents would wait out American forces before overriding the country. But some politicians at the time -- notably then-Sen. Barack Obama -- insisted that deadlines for troop removal were important for, among other things, spurring political reconciliation within the country.

(...)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/27/gates-contradicts-obama-a_n_301161.html

[EFerrari]

3. I'd like to ask someone why this BushCo fixer is Obama's SecDef. n/t

[atreides1]

4. Bipartisanship

And I guess the incoming administration couldn't find someone else to take the job!

Or didn't bother looking for someone else to take the job.

[EFerrari]

5. Gates has long filthy career. It reflects very badly on Obama. n/t

[patrice]

7. TPB/MIC own the President & Us.

[Individualist]

20. DLC controls the party

Neocon enablers put neocons in positions of power.

[bdamomma]

26. I wish they could replace him with Wes Clarke, wouldn't he

acceptable for 2010?

[patrice]

6. 2009 + 4 = 2013 =/= 2011, surprise, surprise . . . . : - (((((((((((((((((((( ~

[chill_wind]

9. Because ONE whole bloody decade of war is not enough.

It's like crack. 4 years from now, we will need 3 more, 2 more...

Then it will be the Republicans' turn again.

LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.
LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.
LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.
LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.
LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.
LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.
LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.
LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.LIARS.

[bigjohn16]

10. Gates on Meet the Press

"we will have 100,000 forces, troops there, and they are not leaving in July of 2011. Some, handful, or some small number, or whatever the conditions permit, will begin to withdraw at that time."


In short what the Administration said on Dec 1 was just to placate the left.

[chill_wind]

11. Shouldn't President Obama make a new speech?

One that just says we'll be there until the Generals tell me we're leaving?

[bigjohn16]

12. I don't think it would accomplish anything.

He goes on national television and says one thing and then has his cabinet go on shows most Americans don't watch to say something different. They're just playing good cop, bad cop with the American people.

[eleny]

14. Singly, the most important assertion made all morning

Not to minimize how Karzai's voice began to crack when Amanpour told him that Gibbs said we would remove corrupt individuals from Afghanistan if Karzai doesn't do it himself. That was the beginning of the really interesting half of the interview aired later on CNN.

Oh yes, today was a day for truths seeing the light of day.

K&R

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. The Light at the End of the Tunnel is on the move again.

[eleny]

16. The flickering pinpoint accompanied by a train whistle

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

18. Well, it was only turned on briefly to dazzle the born again hawks.

[chill_wind]

19. More like parrots and lemmings.

GOD I am so angry. $3 Billion a month!!

[chill_wind]

15. This is not a F*#KING "EXIT" strategy.

2-4 years. Depending on conditions. Maybe next week-- 6-8 years. Depending on conditions. Pick a number. Any number.

[unhappycamper]

22. Swell.

:sarcasm:

There's another $200 billion to $400 billion down the tubes.

[AllentownJake]

23. Everyone with a brain realized this when escalation was made policy nt.

[chill_wind]

24. Which is of very little consolation.

FWIW, I called it here the night of the speech. I'm sick of being called cynical, but I'm even sicker at this endless facade of half-truths and distractions the blind faithful here keep insisting upon.

[bdamomma]

25. two to four years more of death in a unwinnable war.

equally over 10 years of occupation in Afghanistan, its disgusting. I guess we will never stop making money for the MIC.

[Romulox]

27. I think the President doesn't understand how credibility is lost...

:shrug:

[chill_wind]

28. It may become a little clearer to all of us in 2010.

:-(