"... Is it hopeless?..."

Link

LR/ W&P/here

George Packer profile of US Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke in the current New Yorker, (only available in print and must read.) More devastating for being so well observed: a task that may be beyond the man, brilliant, charismatic, and the army, and a counterinsurgency fight that seemingly can't be "Afghanized" or turned over to the Afghans for whatever amount of money because of minimal Afghan government interest or regard for the population and vice versa. And with all the billions the US has and will pour into Pakistan, it remaining still a country only ostensibly cooperating with the U.S., while its very military and intelligence organs shelter an Afghan Taliban supporting and killing Americans and Afghans next door. Packer captures the odd scene from Afghanistan of ruins of USAID buildings dating from the last century, previous iterations of American efforts gone to dust. Is it hopeless? Then again, Iraq's Maliki government was looking equally corrupt, penetrated, inept, and in cases malign as Karzai's a few years ago, and yet there has seemingly become enough of a semi functional government and security apparatus however flawed to turn things over to. As Jim Dobbins tells Packer, the U.S. seems to have a counterterrorism goal - the oft-Obama administration quoted one of "defeat, dismantle and deter" Al Qaeda in Afghanistan -- with a counterinsurgency strategy that McChrystal is trying to get the troops to carry out.

Posted by G, Z, or B at 10:20 AM

Colin Powell: "No surge in Afghanistan"

"... The competing advice and concerns fuel a pivotal struggle to shape the president’s thinking about a war that he inherited but may come to define his tenure. Among the most important outside voices has been that of former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, a retired four-star Army general, who visited Mr. Obama in the Oval Office this month and expressed skepticism that more troops would guarantee success. According to people briefed on the discussion, Mr. Powell reminded the president of his longstanding view that military missions should be clearly defined.

Mr. Powell is one of the three people outside the administration, along with Senator John F. Kerry and Senator Jack Reed, considered by White House aides to be most influential in this current debate. All have expressed varying degrees of doubt about the wisdom of sending more forces to Afghanistan..."

Posted by G, Z, or B at 1:58 PM