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Obama’s Afghanistan plan gets mixed reviews from grunts at Fort Campbell - The Washington Post
Keywords:
Troops who served in Konar province near the Pakistan border saw some of the heaviest fighting in Afghanistan. Here they give their account of what they saw and why there is a big gap in what they saw and what military officers and President Obama are telling Americans. Fort Campbell is spread out over 100,000 acres on the Kentucky-Tennessee border. Tweny thousand troops from this base served in Afghanistan. Brigades of the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell fought some of the toughest battles in the eastern part of Afghanistan even while the surge concentrated troops in the southern part near populated centers. What the troops remember is battles fought in remote valleys where troops came out of nowhere like "ghosts," in areas which were held only for a few months and abandoned with no idea what they had accomplished. This description also fits with the reality of the Taliban being both Pakistani and Afghan in the sense that the borders were defined by the British during colonial times, but the tribes of the Pashtun region are on both sides, in Pakistan and Afghanistan. To subdue the region would be to subdue the Pakistani side and the support they enjoy in large parts of Pakistan, with the large and mountainous terrain making movement difficult. Which is why these troops talk about "ghosts" turning up from nowhere and find the fighting to have lost meaning in terms of purposes it is supposed to accomplish and how this is to be done. The reality of the valleys and hills over a vast mountainous terrain of Afghanistan and Pakistan and the people and fighting there does not fit the speeches made by President Obama on Afghanistan, and say soldiers this gap is widening every day.
Reports from frontline soldiers in the war in Afghanistan- 2011-2012
06/27/2011
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Obama’s Afghanistan plan gets mixed reviews from grunts at Fort Campbell - The Washington Post
Washington Post 06/27/2011
Book review: ‘The Unquiet American: Richard Holbrooke in the World’ - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/13/2011
A must read from soviet archives about a Soviet general making the same request McChrystal is making.
10/20/2008
With 110,000 troops in Afghnistan, Soviet general Akhromeyev made the request for more troops in the seventh year of a nine year Soviet Afghan conflict. The Soviets could not maintain political control outside the provincial capitals as the insurgents simply disappeared into the hills, in so vast a country, is how he put it to the Soviet Politburo. In th same manner Russian Ambassador to Kabul, Kabulov, who was the KGB chief in Kabul during the soviet Afghan conflict, says there is an "irrtitive allergy" to foreigners for Afghans in the villages and hills that makes a large foreign presence costly and dangerous approach. A must read as the US is at a similiar juncture in its version of the Afghan conflict, and bad choices could prove very costly for the country as it did for the soviets.
Grouped Articles
McChrystal article renews attention to split with Biden over Afghanistan
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An Old Afghanistan Hand Offers Lessons of the Past
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New York Times 10/29/2009
Soviets' Afghan Ordeal Vexed Gates on Troop-Surge Plan
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April 2010 Defense Department biannual report on the war in Afghanistan.
04/29/2010
It shows little progress from the escalated effort, and the critical fact of the lack of acceptance of the Karzai government remains. Of 92 districts assessed in this report none are sympathetic to the Karzai government.
Grouped Articles
Gates Faults Obama Over Afghanistan
Wall Street Journal 01/08/2014
U.S. Report on Afghan War Finds Few Gains in 6 Months
New York Times 04/29/2010
Strategy vs. Tactics in Afghanistan
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Official Admits Militancyâs Deep Roots in Pakistan
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McChrystal article renews attention to split with Biden over Afghanistan
Washington Post 06/23/2010
McChrystalâs Fate in Limbo as He Prepares to Meet Obama
New York Times 06/23/2010
Commander Adams who commanded the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Khost province of Afghanistan.
10/28/2009
Commander Adams of the 82nd Airborne says he secured Khost province with only 250 troops by befriending the tribals and building roads and a spring water syste to help 12,000 villagers. Then the tribals watched out for insurgents and IED's and reported them. He says there are only one year wars in Afghnistan and the need is for better grasp of things over there, menaning befriending the tribals and letting them do the job; not putting more Americans there which will only fuel the insurgency.
Grouped Articles
Afghanistan Doesn't Need More Troops
Wall Street Journal 10/28/2009
Rethinking the Afghanistan Warâs What-Ifs
New York Times 07/31/2010
U.S. military dismayed by delays in 3 key development projects in Afghanistan - The Washington Post
Washington Post 04/29/2011
Gardez-Khost Highway Sees More Corruption Than Progress
New York Times 05/01/2011
Obama’s Afghanistan plan gets mixed reviews from grunts at Fort Campbell - The Washington Post
Washington Post 06/27/2011
The Afghan Surge Is Over - By Rajiv Chandrasekaran | Foreign Policy
Unknown 09/26/2012
The Afghan's allergy to foreign presence and the argument for more troops on the ground.
10/22/2009
Optimistic assessments about the results more American boots on the ground would bring leave gaps that are not addressed, about the Afghan government, the allergy to foreign occupiers, and the likely misassessment of the numbers needed. Here Boot says 174,000 American troops were needed in Iraq and he also says Afghanistan is amuch bigger country. Can American add troops to reach anumber closer to 174,000 in Afghanistan and what would the public response be? And there is no majority Shiite side in Afghanistan to stand behind the Americans as there was in Iraq, because democracy benefitted the Shiites under Ayatollah Sistani- what then would be the support for Americans among the 40 million Pashtuns ?
Grouped Articles
There’s No Substitute for Troops on the Ground
New York Times 10/22/2009
Kerry Calls for Patient Strategy in Afghanistan
New York Times 10/27/2009
Obama’s Afghanistan plan gets mixed reviews from grunts at Fort Campbell - The Washington Post
Washington Post 06/27/2011
US policy in Afghanistan in 2011-2012
12/16/2010
Grouped Articles
Wall Street Journal 12/16/2010
Kabul's Police Tab Fails a U.S. Audit
Wall Street Journal 04/26/2011
New Afghan War Leader Helped Nurture Sunni Awakening in Iraq
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Spring Offensive to Begin, Taliban Say
New York Times 04/30/2011
India and Pakistan: The world's most dangerous border
Economist 05/21/2011
Economist 05/07/2011
Pakistan's view on the debate in Washington about sending more troops and expansion of war in Afghanistan.
10/01/2009
Foreign Minister Qureshi at the Journal's offices in New York says it would mean the Pakistani Taliban would threaten Islamabad, there would be more misery, suicide bombings, and hurt the economy badly. But Qureshi speaks for an increasingly unpopular Zardari administration. The army, opposition parties, and the Intelligence agencies, and increasingly the public sentiment is against an expanded American presence in Afghanistan, or a bigger American footprint in Afghinstan and Pakistan. See Rosenberg in WSJ.
Grouped Articles
How the Pakistani Taliban Became a Deadly Force
New York Times 12/16/2014
Wall Street Journal 10/01/2009
Several Afghan Strategies, None a Clear Choice
New York Times 10/01/2009
Reconciliation Efforts in Afghanistan Flounder
Washington Post 10/14/2009
Pakistan Attacks Show Tightening of Militant Links
New York Times 10/16/2009
U.S. deeply split on troop increase for Afghan war
Washington Post 10/21/2009
A crucial test of leadership of President Obama for the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan- 2009-2010
09/23/2009
Obama has to look at the unofficial reports on the ground to get the facts, and be willing to change completely with the facts, if he is to accept Vice President Biden's view and advisor Reidel's view that counterinsurgency fight is not possible without a credible and legitimate Afghan partner.
Grouped Articles
Pakistan Gives Sharif a Mandate
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Pakistan's New Top Diplomat Heads to Kabul
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Gates Faults Obama Over Afghanistan
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Obama Is Considering Strategy Shift in Afghan War
New York Times 09/23/2009
In Poll, Public Wary of Obama on War and Health
New York Times 09/25/2009
New York Times 09/25/2009
Afghanistan and the American way of life
06/27/2011
Grouped Articles
Obama’s Afghanistan plan gets mixed reviews from grunts at Fort Campbell - The Washington Post
Washington Post 06/27/2011
Consensus report of 16 US Intelligence Agencies on Afghanistan and Pakistan in December 2010
12/14/2010
The links between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the situation along the border makes the effort in Afghanistan difficult.
Grouped Articles
Intelligence Reports Offer Dim View of Afghan War
New York Times 12/14/2010
Afghan Report Exposes a Split Over Pullout Timelines
New York Times 12/16/2010
Wall Street Journal 12/27/2010
U.S. efforts fail to convince Pakistan's top general to target Taliban
Washington Post 12/31/2010
New York Times 03/05/2011
New Afghan War Leader Helped Nurture Sunni Awakening in Iraq
Wall Street Journal 04/28/2011
Lt. General John Allen and the American war effort in Afghanistan- 2011-2012
04/28/2011
Grouped Articles
To Lead Afghan War, Obama Chooses Marine Known for Swaying Sunnis in Iraq
New York Times 04/28/2011
New Afghan War Leader Helped Nurture Sunni Awakening in Iraq
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Spring Offensive to Begin, Taliban Say
New York Times 04/30/2011
Obama Will Speed Pullout From War in Afghanistan
New York Times 06/22/2011
Obama’s Afghanistan plan gets mixed reviews from grunts at Fort Campbell - The Washington Post
Washington Post 06/27/2011
A New Pakistan Policy: Containment
New York Times 10/14/2011
The Pakistan Taliban and the government, military and intelligence services of Pakistan.
01/05/2009
THe paradox is that the US is helping the Pakistan government fight the Taliban and Pakistan intelligence services openly or clandestinely are helping the Taliban. And Pakistan is hedgin its bets and does not want to see India increase its influence in Afghanistan. It may sound crazy but that is the motivation of Pakistan creating the Taliban as it were.
Grouped Articles
Pakistani Leader Pursues India Ties
Wall Street Journal 05/15/2013
Pakistan to Release Senior Taliban Leader
Wall Street Journal 09/11/2013
Leader of Pakistani Taliban Killed in Drone Strike
Wall Street Journal 11/02/2013
Official Admits Militancyâs Deep Roots in Pakistan
New York Times 06/02/2010
Taliban Take Toll on Pakistan's Biggest City
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After Months of Infighting, a Major Faction Splits From the Pakistani Taliban
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The view form Pakistan which discourages a large American footprint there and in Afghanistan.
01/04/2008
The head of the ISI, Pakistan's intelligence agency, met with CIA officials and argued against America sending more troops to Afghanistan. Some opposition parties oppose the large American embassy construction in Islamabad and consulate in Peshawar as signs America is increasing its presence. And Army chief Kalyani who sees Taliban moving into Baluchistan opposes drone attacks on Mullah Omar residing there.
Grouped Articles
Pakistan Gives Sharif a Mandate
Wall Street Journal 05/12/2013
Pakistan to Release Senior Taliban Leader
Wall Street Journal 09/11/2013
Leader of Pakistani Taliban Killed in Drone Strike
Wall Street Journal 11/02/2013
Taliban Making Military Gains in Afghanistan
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Around an Invisible Leader, Taliban Power Shifts
New York Times 12/28/2014
Taliban Leader Mullah Omar Is Dead, Afghan Spy Agency Says
Wall Street Journal 07/30/2015
An assessment of the Obama adminstration's foreign policy for 2008-2016
11/15/2009
Grouped Articles
Wall Street Journal 06/05/2013
Fouad Ajami: When the Obama Magic Died
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‘America Must Always Lead,’ Obama Tells West Point Graduates
New York Times 05/28/2014
Obama Defends U.S. Policy Based Less on Military Might
Wall Street Journal 05/29/2014
Notable & Quotable: Obama at West Point
Wall Street Journal 05/29/2014
Rebutting Critics, Obama Seeks Higher Bar for Military Action
New York Times 05/28/2014
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