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Swampland —
... What I saw in Afghanistan.
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The quagmire next time
Ben Smith's Blog —
... Joe Klein, somewhat more optimistic, warns that Obama may soon "own" an "aimless" war if he can't dramatically change the dynamic. ...
Easier Said Than Done
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
By Patrick Appel
By Patrick Appel Joe Klein reports on Afghanistan: ...the first step toward resolving the war in Afghanistan is to lay down the law in both Islamabad and Kabul. The message should be the same in both cases: The unsupervised splurge of American aid is over. The Pakistanis will have to stop giving tacit support and protection to terrorists, especially the Afghan Taliban. The Karzai government will have to end its corruption and close down the drug trade. There are plenty of other reforms necessary — the ...
Hullabaloo — ... This idea that anyone, much less the Secretary of Defense, would make such an analogy between the Cold War and a regional conflict in a broken country, with all the attendant "central front in the war on terra" folderol, has to be very worrying to the safety and security of troops in that part of the world, fighting and dying for an extremely uncertain cause. Searching for meaning in Afghanistan is futile. You just have a bunch of old warhorses justifying the whole thing to themselves. Are we bringing democracy and freedom to a remote part of the world? ...
TIME’s Joe Klein Went All The Way To Afghanistan and Didn’t Even Get a T-Shirt
Flopping Aces —
... In a recent article for TIME magazine, perpetual whiner, Joe Klein asks, ‘Why Are We In Afghanistan?” He calls it, “The Aimless War.” People should be shocked-absolutely shocked to see a veteran writer go all the way to Afghanistan, talk to troops, civilians, leaders, etc., and still not understand why NATO and the United States are in Afghanistan. Of course, it is Joe Klein, and when it comes to military matters he has all the tactical and strategic understanding of a doorknob. It’s like looking to a comedian or a sportscaster for political or ...
Confronting Karzai
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
... toward salvaging anything from Afghanistan. I fear Obama's attempt to recommit to the war in that godforsaken "country" may be his biggest error in the next four years. Joe Klein explains why to anyone who doesn't know what a history book is. A telling anecdote about "the daily frustrations of Armour's job: training Afghan police
officers": ...
More Monday links
Maggie's Farm —
... on the part of the press. World's most beautiful woman is Russian. It's true. They make beauties there. It's one of the few things Russia does well. Update on the Marc Dreier investment scam. And re the Madoff scam, look at the "sophisticated investors" he fooled. When a deal sounds too good to be true... I love the way Bush handled this press guy. The Brussels Journal and Tribal Nationalism: LGF Why are we still in Afghanistan? Beethoven and the Illuminati How Tom Daschle could ...
Malou Innocent: Majority of Americans Say Afghan War Not Worth Fighting
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... ) that Central Asia holds little intrinsic strategic value to the United States. In that respect, I can understand why Americans are growing skeptical of continuing what's become an "aimless absurdity." ...
