McChrystal malarkey on Afghanistan hides incompetence of NATO, ISAF & US forces

Categorized | Afghan, Current Affairs, Pak CA, Politics, US CA, US Int Rel., US Poli

McChrystal malarkey on Afghanistan hides incompetence of NATO, ISAF & US forces

Posted on 22 September 2009.

General Stanley McChrystal’s malarkey on support for Taliban in Afghanistan exacerbates the fragile diplomatic situation in the Khyber and the Hindu Kush. Failure and Defeat in Afghanistan: Inevitable Frustration & misdirected Payback for ally Pakistan. His frustration and inability to take back 80% of the Afghanistan from the Taliban forces him to go and search for and create the atmosphere for bombing the “Ho Chi Minh trail”. Since he doesn’t have a Ho Chi Minh trail, General McChrystal has made one up–excuses for his failure to wrest control of the country from the Taliban and the 37 other insurgent groups that hold Afghanistan. Pakistan’s do more list for the USA

Bluster before Exit: Obama’s last hurrah—30,000 troops “for 18 months” then withdrawal by 2011

International Council of Security and Development (ISOC): Taliban control “virtually all” of Afghanistan

The civilian death toll is estimated to exceed 31,000 since the 2001 invasion. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reckons that over 60 per cent of the 33-million population has been directly affected by the conflict. NATO troops have even called on local warlords to pacify angry locals following civilian deaths. U.S. commanders have recently tried using ground troops more; but this has not brought down civilian deaths or the brutality of the occupation. It also means increasing unrest in the U.S.; poorer rural recruits — among the hardest hit by the recession — enrol to get a job but are more exposed in Afghanistan, where their death rate is 60 per cent higher than that of their urban counterparts. Meanwhile the Taliban, by every credible account, have expanded their strength and influence. Attempts by NATO to train the Afghan National Army appear to have had no more success than attempts to build Afghan political institutions. The country that has defied invaders through history has once again proved to be a trap of calamitous proportions. The Hindu

Selective Amnesia of Americans: Pakistan is the most mistreated friend in the world. President Obama seems to be hinting at Concerted Police Action, without a failed war, can solve Afghan terror

The White House is now focused on whether, after eight years of war, the United States should vastly expand counterinsurgency efforts along the lines he has proposed.
The president, another senior administration official said, “has embarked on a very, very serious review of all options
“The first question is: Are we doing the right thing?” the president said on CNN. “Are we pursuing the right strategy?”
I’m not interested in just being in Afghanistan for the sake of being in Afghanistan or saving face or . . . sending a message that America is here for the duration.”
The implicit recommendation is that the United States and its NATO partners need to do more nation-building, and they need to do it quickly.
The principal game-changer, in the view of White House officials, was Afghanistan’s presidential election last month,
“Will you read it and tell us what you think?” Within the military, this official said, “there is a frustration. A significant frustration. A serious frustration.”
End of US Exceptionalism & Crisis of Profilgacy: An exit strategy defines the limits of US power in the Hindukush

The emerging “Leave Pakistan to Afghanistan” strategy goes mainstream–Extricating the US from the Lost in the Khyber. The situation in Afghanistan is grim. General McChrystal wants 40,000 more troops. Facing an outraged public which very skepitical of a perpetual war in the Hindu Kush, the Obama Administration has balked at approving the new surge asked by General McChrystal. Obama rejects McChrystal’s surge: Withdrawal Inevitable in 2011!

Reporting from Washington – The U.S. military commander in Afghanistan says he has evidence that factions of Pakistani and Iranian spy services are supporting insurgent groups that carry out attacks on coalition troops.

Taliban fighters in Afghanistan are being aided by “elements of some intelligence agencies,” Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal wrote in a detailed analysis of the military situation delivered to the White House earlier this month.

McChrystal went on to single out Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency as well as the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as contributing to the external forces working to undermine U.S. interests and destabilize the government in Kabul.

The remarks reflect long-running U.S. concerns about Pakistan and Iran, but it is rare that they have been voiced so prominently by a top U.S. official. McChrystal submitted his assessment last month, and a declassified version was published Sunday on the Washington Post website.

The criticism of Pakistan is a particularly delicate issue because of the United States’ close cooperation with Islamabad in pursuing militants and carrying out Predator airstrikes along the nation’s rugged eastern border.

“Afghanistan’s insurgency is clearly supported from Pakistan,” McChrystal wrote, adding that senior leaders of the major Taliban groups are “reportedly aided by some elements of Pakistan’s ISI.” The ISI has long-standing ties to the Taliban, but Pakistani officials have repeatedly claimed to have severed those relationships in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

More recently, the ISI has been a key U.S. partner in the capture of a number of high-level Al Qaeda operatives, including alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. But U.S. officials have also complained of ongoing contacts between the spy service and Taliban groups.LA Times. U.S. says Pakistan, Iran helping Taliban. Remarks from Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, are the first in months on the sensitive issue. By Greg Miller September 22, 2009, greg.miller@latimes.com

In a lopsided policy the US wasted $143 Billion in aid to Afghanistan and gave Pakistan $5 Billion. Egyptian loans of around $38 Billion were forgiven. Pakistani losses due to GWOT calculated by the US DOD were $20 Billion per year in 2001. These losses have quadrupled. Aid to Pakistan is less than aid to Afghanistan. This has to be balanced with need. The US uses Pakistani infrastructure to transport supplies without building or even maintaining the roads. An FTA and elimination of tariffs on Pakistani textiles would enable Pakistan to export $15 worth of textiles. Better than any aid package this would reverse extremism

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“The best way to get out of Afghanistan fast is (for) people to think we’re staying.” Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

The news from Washington doesn’t come as a surprise to those who have analyzed the situation. Tick Tock Tick Tock-2011: Obama’s shrinking Afghan timeline. President Obama has read General McChrystal’s request for 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, but has not approved it.

Obama, appearing on several Sunday-morning television news shows, left little doubt that key assumptions in the earlier White House strategy are now on the table. “The first question is: Are we doing the right thing?” the president said on CNN. “Are we pursuing the right strategy?”

“Until I’m satisfied that we’ve got the right strategy, I’m not going to be sending some young man or woman over there — beyond what we already have,” Obama said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” If an expanded counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan contributes to the goal of defeating al-Qaeda, “then we’ll move forward,” he said. “But, if it doesn’t, then I’m not interested in just being in Afghanistan for the sake of being in Afghanistan or saving face or . . . sending a message that America is here for the duration.”Changes Have Obama Rethinking War Strategy By Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Karen DeYoung, Washington Post Staff Writers, Monday, September 21, 2009, Staff writer Bob Woodward contributed to this report

The US occupation has not brought security to Afghan women. There are several factors which have led to the impasse in the White House. AfPak countercurrents beyond the Oxus to AfPakAzUzbKazTurkKyr-istan. Some of them has been identified by Bob Woodward in his recent front page article in the Washington Post. Obama’s Afghan timeout vs. Mullen’s surge. There are several factions in the administration. One of them is the geostrategic reality that NATO doesn’t buy the Obama Doctrine. It seems that the “Exiters” seem to be winning. “Can Karzai get away with a stolen election”- Carter. Various Democrats seem to be warning Mr. Obama about the impending catastrophe. We are running the risk of replicating the fate of the Soviets” Mr. Brzezinski. Mr. Obama could have fallen into the routine acceptance for a request for more troops. He has resisted to repeat the historical mistakes of Vietnam. Justifying the Banality of Occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan: The Thinktanks attempt to complete the circle of complicity between a sycophantic press, and a non-inquisitive servile public. The nation is forced to accept the only argument that it is being repeatedly inundated with. He has stepped back to ask a more basic question. Hindu Kush cul de sac: Why are we in Afghanistan? The main question is, whether President Obama have the courage to implement the real solutions to Obama’s Vietnam (AfPak). President Obama is planning an Exit strategy by negotiating with the “Taliban” (Pakhtuns). Can he go through with it? Trade First not Aid First

We are running the risk of replicating the fate of the Soviets” Mr. Brzezinski Brzezinski: Don’t start new wars. Use diplomacy in Pakistan “Can Karzai get away with a stolen election”- Carter

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The US occupation has not brought security to Afghan women

U.S. frustration peaked last year when Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other U.S. officials secretly confronted Pakistan with evidence of ISI involvement in the suicide bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul.

Since then, U.S. officials have sought to avoid public criticism of the Pakistani service as part of an effort to defuse tensions in the relationship. Indeed, U.S. officials in recent months have said that the ISI had become more committed to the counter-terrorism cause after one of the service’s own facilities in Lahore was the target of a suicide bombing.

McChrystal’s comments are the first public indication in months that the United States continues to see signs of ISI support for insurgent groups. Experts said elements of the ISI maintain those ties to hedge against a U.S. withdrawal from the region and rising Indian influence in Afghanistan.

“There is a mixture of motives and concerns within the ISI that have accounted for the dalliances that have gone on for years” with insurgent groups, said Paul Pillar, a former senior CIA counter-terrorism official.

Iran has traditionally had an adversarial relationship with the Taliban, and McChrystal’s report said that Tehran has played “an ambiguous role in Afghanistan,” providing developmental assistance to the government even as it flirts with insurgent groups that target U.S. troops.

“The Iranian Quds Force is reportedly training fighters for certain Taliban groups and providing other forms of military assistance to insurgents,” McChrystal said in the report. The Quds Force is an elite wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that carries out operations in other countries.

McChrystal did not elaborate on the nature of the assistance, but Iran has been a transit point for foreign fighters entering Pakistan. Experts also cited evidence that Iran has provided training and technology in the use of roadside bombs.

U.S. intelligence officials said Iran appears to calibrate its involvement to tie down U.S. and coalition troops without provoking direct retaliation.

Iran’s aim “is to make sure the U.S. is tied down and preoccupied in yet another theater,” said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University. “From Iran’s point of view, it’s an historical area of interest and too good an opportunity to pass up.” LA Times. U.S. says Pakistan, Iran helping Taliban. Remarks from Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, are the first in months on the sensitive issue. By Greg Miller September 22, 2009, greg.miller@latimes.com

Afghanistan’s Bravest Woman Malalai Joya: “Taliban are logistically & militarily growing stronger as each day dawns.” “Afghan women and men are not ‘liberated’ at all”US capitulates to Afghan Taliban: Negotiating retreat schedule

AfPak countercurrents beyond the Oxus to AfPakAzUzbKazTurkKyr-istan

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Obama’s new policy was supposed to be a Marshal Plan & end to bombing raids in Pakistan

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Growing consensus in the Obama team: Much of Pakistan’s problems originate in Afghanistan

Obama advisor Weinbaum focus on talks & Reconciliation got lost in blood and gore. Afghanistan: Gen. Petraeus’ Pakistani advisers: Indians jittery Obama adviser insights into Afghan policy: Result same old same old

Why troops surges in Afghanistan are doomed to failure?Rand report: End GWOT. Defeat Al-Qaeda with police & Dollars Hindu Kush Curtain Call: The End Game in Afghanistan Harvard questions: Afghanistan Lost? Barnett Rubin & Maleeha Lodhi solutions to quagmire The Pakistani perspective: Peace deals only way to precipitate face saving for US & Obama’s smooth Exit strategy from Afghanistan

After NATO rejection Obama has few options left in Afghanistan Pakistan First by Shireen Mazari: The devastating affects of appeasing India and kowtowing to the USA Pakistan to US: No pay-No play: Tough lessons in geography!

People talk glibly of ‘the total disarmament of the frontier tribes’ as being the obvious policy…but to obtain it would be as painful and as tedious an undertaking as to extract the stings of a swarm of hornets, with naked fingers.” Winston Churchill

PEANUTS: Puny US Aid to Pakistan is too little too late. Marshall Plan, & Trade concessions missing