World hails Obama's new Afghan strategy

[FrenchieCat]

World hails Obama's new Afghan strategy
Published: Friday 27 March 2009 22:25 UTC
Last updated: Saturday 28 March 2009 15:30 UTC

US President Barack Obama's new strategy to eradicate al-Qaeda militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been welcomed around the world. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Afghanistan and Pakistan all voiced approval. Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen hailed the plan for its comprehensive approach to Afghanistan's problems. He also welcomed the timing of the announcement, which comes on the eve of the UN Afghanistan summit in The Hague.

President Obama said growing radicalisation in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan posed the main threat to the US and the rest of the world. Mr Obama said an additional 4,000 troops will be added to the 17,000 he has ordered to be deployed to southern Afghanistan.

He also announced the creation of an Afghanistan contact group that will bring together NATO countries along with Iran, Russia, India and China. Russia is currently hosting an Afghanistan conference attended by China and other Central-Asian countries. The gathering comes four days ahead of the Afghanistan summit convened by the United Nations in The Hague.
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/international/6234936/World-hails-Obamas-new-Afghan-strategy

Afghan and Pakistani presidents back Obama's new strategy

The leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan today praised the new US strategy for dealing with growing violence in their countries, with the Afghan president saying it was "better than we were expecting" and his Pakistani counterpart calling it a "positive change".

The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, welcomed increased civil and military aid to his country. He highlighted a plan for reconciliation with moderate elements of the Taliban as the most important initiative in the strategy unveiled by Barack Obama yesterday. He also approved of the US president's focus on countering militant sanctuaries in neighbouring Pakistan.

"This is better than we were expecting, as a matter of fact," Karzai said.

The Pakistani president, Asif Ali Zardari, promised his country would not allow its territory to be used for terrorism and said the billions of dollars in additional civilian aid for Pakistan under the new US plan endorsed his strategy of fighting extremism with development.

"The US presidency's new approach represents a positive change," Zardari said in a speech to parliament.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/28/pakistan-zardari-obama-alqaida-afghanistan

Europe lauds Obama's new Afghanistan strategy

BERLIN, March 27 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan was met with almost universal approval in Europe, but nations there will have to contribute a lot more to actually make it work.

Obama on Friday announced his new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy, with its key goal to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" al-Qaida by destroying its safe haven in the region.

The strategy includes sending 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan "later this spring," on top of the 17,000 Obama has already added to the region. But the new plan is much more than just boosting personnel.

"It represents a major change from the top-down neo-conservative approach," said John Hulsman, a Berlin-based trans-Atlantic expert who is president and co-founder of John C. Hulsman Enterprises, a foreign policy consulting firm. "The key to it is: America will work with the locals, be it inside or around Afghanistan. I think that finally, we see a real strategy forming that actually has a chance of succeeding."

The plan has been met with almost universal approval in Europe. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Friday it came very close to "European ideas" about the look of the future mission in Afghanistan, and several other officials lauded the plan's cooperational focus.
http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2009/03/27/Europe_lauds_Obamas_new_Afghanistan_strategy/UPI-34681238185220/

[Top Cat]

1. Glad to see the Presdient is getting the needed support

[TwilightZone]

2. Here, you might need this:

:hide:

[MarjorieG]

3. I don't our having a choice but staying engaged and doing it better. Obligations huge to continue.

I may have to leave DU, because everything that requires some hat tip to the problems we inherited, among others as urgent, just gets poutage and rants.

Thank you, FrenchieCat, for all you do. I'm still trying to bring awareness, better results to voting problems, talk about lost causes.

[rug]

4. Yay!

[FrenchieCat]

5. And this means what in the larger view of things.....?

That women who wear small shorts and kick high have something to do with Afghan War policies?



Lives on the Line
Facing a resurgent Taliban, Afghan women have had to cover up and take cover.

Last September, Malalai Kakar, police chief for the department of crimes against women in Kandahar—the former Taliban stronghold in the south—was fatally shot while on her way to work. Less than two months later, several girls were walking to school in Kandahar when two men on a motorbike sprayed them with acid. Two of the girls were blinded. Ten Taliban members were charged in the crime, with one reportedly confessing that a high-ranking Taliban member had offered a large sum of money for each girl burned.

In 70 percent of Afghan provinces, the Taliban is back, accompanied by a skyrocketing death toll across the country and an increase in attacks targeting women and girls.
http://www.msmagazine.com/winter2009/Afghanistan.asp

[rug]

6. You realize his target is al Qaeda, nor the Taliban, don't you?

Or are you justifying the war as a crusade against evil like we've heard for 6 years.

Sleight of hand works for magicians, not wars.

[FrenchieCat]

10. You realize that part of his goal addresses the issue of the Taliban.....

and made it clear that is in regard to their treatment of Women and Girls, Right?

Just admit that anything I say, you stand against, and we'll call it a day.

Your pic in response to this OP without a single word offered of substance speaks volume.

Obama Got Afghanistan/Pakistan Right
Jon SoltzCo-Founder of VoteVets.org, Posted March 27, 2009

For those of us who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, it was extremely important that the new president get the situation in Afghanistan right. Not just for America's security, but for those troops still in Afghanistan, and those heading to Afghanistan to put their lives on the line in the war. With today's announcement, President Obama has shown that he "gets it." That's why we at VoteVets.org are supporting the plan with a petition, which you can sign on to, right here.
....
This might have been the most striking parts of the President's speech:

"There is an uncompromising core of the Taliban. They must be met with force, and they must be defeated. But there are also those who have taken up arms because of coercion, or simply for a price. These Afghans must have the option to choose a different course. That is why we will work with local leaders, the Afghan government, and international partners to have a reconciliation process in every province. As their ranks dwindle, an enemy that has nothing to offer the Afghan people but terror and repression must be further isolated. And we will continue to support the basic human rights of all Afghans - including women and girls."

I couldn't have put it better myself.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-soltz/obama-got-afghanistanpaki_b_179982.html

[rug]

11. The expansion of the war in Afghanistan is not about women and girls.

We've just had 6 years of a disingenuous dishonest war and no one needs another.

Perhaps we both should refrain from cheerleading posts.

[geek tragedy]

12. Yes, we need to hate on Obama 24/7.

We need to be like the Free Republic.

[rug]

13. Lots of support for war over there.

[geek tragedy]

16. Yeah, I guess Free Republic is less hostile to him

than the NeoNaderites around here.

[FrenchieCat]

14. You posted the cheerleaders. I posted well sourced information

as to how the world was receiving OBama's Afghan strategy.

Those two are not the same.

[thevoiceofreason]

27. L

[BlooInBloo]

25. Dammit - I was gonna add VoteVets to the list.

:P

[FrenchieCat]

26. I've not read any really bad review from the people that count.

But I'm all ears!

[HopeOverFear]

8. Frenchie you ever notice how some anti-war people are the most bitter

meanest sons-of-bitches ever? Ironic, ain't it? I'm just sayin..

[FrenchieCat]

19. True.

Somehow, I sometimes feel that it has little to do with anti-war people, and everything to do with anti-Obama people.

Case in point, Rachel Maddow's show yesterday. She started out as though she was going to pan Obama's Afghan plan, but a few minutes in, she was actually liking it quite a bit.

What happened here at DU?

Well a few posters, including the one above posted OPs as the broadcast was going on (before it turned positive towards Obama's plan) all giddy of the thought of Maddow agreeing with them that this was an awful plan worthy of Bush.

However, when she turned away from being anti-Obama, the posters kind of let the threads sink.
It was an interesting display of the type of mentality that attempts to pass itself off as the self righteous ones, although when it really comes down to it, they are in favor of anything that is against whatever Obama is saying at that moment.

Reminds me of the pundits saying Obama lost right after the debates, only to have the people state on the insta polls that he had won overwhelmingly.

Here's a sample of the posts from last night. judge for yourself:

rug (1000+ posts) Fri Mar-27-09 06:04 PM
Original message
"Stategy vs. Strategery" on Maddow now. Not pretty.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8297959


Stinky The Clown (1000+ posts) Fri Mar-27-09 06:37 PM
Original message
Who watched Olbermann and is now watching Maddow? Thoughts?
Not a lot of love being shown tonight. Mainly about Pakistan and Afghanistan policy. And use of "Homeland". One of them played a clip of an Obama speech and a Bush speech .... same words.

A pattern starting?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5344795

[HopeOverFear]

7. kick and rec'd

[geek tragedy]

9. Which means the Michelle Bachmann's of the Left

at Democratic Underground will despise it as overly harsh on the Taliban.

[Fire1]

23. Screw THEM and Bachmann ( Palin incarnate!) Had shrub

done what he told the american people he was going to do and not LIED, we wouldn't be going to Afghanistan, now.

[jenmito]

15. K&R. And to anyone calling us "cheerleaders," I guess they never listened to Obama's

position on Afghanistan/Pakistan where he said he'd do exactly what he's doing now.

[geek tragedy]

17. It's the bitter Naderites who think the other 99% of the country

are brainwashed sheep who throw that language around.

But, they are irrelevant in the world and quite worthless, so they think that making Democratic Underground an anti-Obama site validates their sad lives.

[jenmito]

18. Yup...

Too bad the moderators here don't enforce the rules here. We're supposed to SUPPORT Obama and if not we shouldn't be here. People too far on the left who don't support Obama shouldn't be here just like people on the right who don't support him.

[geek tragedy]

20. There's criticism about policy and then there are people

who seek to delegitimize him at every point.

[jenmito]

21. Yup. And the posters who

do nothing but post pics of cheerleaders and use names like, "Obamabot" or "Obamatron" or "Fan" or "Worshipper" don't belong here. They're using RW talking points and don't support him. They may be Dems. in the sense they voted for another Dem. in the primary but if they don't now support Obama and choose to ridicule his supporters, they have a problem.

[CBR]

22. People who think everyone else is brainwashed are...

brainwashed by that very thinking.

[FrenchieCat]

24. Kick!

[FrenchieCat]

28. I think that having the world's cooperation is a great sign.......

and doesn't point to a vietnam!