Quote Originally Posted by Kreker View Post
... My intent was to generate thought on some important and compelling issues confronting the Afghans that were not addressed by McCaffrey.
Verily. I'm not now and have never been a McCaffrey fan but my Mommy told me not to say anything if all I had to say was bad...

Superficial, sound bite and 'flash and dash' all came to mind, though...
I was hoping for more discussions on some of the issues I raised.
Hopefully, I didn't derail that. My cynicism usually kicks in to the extent I'm not capable of discussing what should be versus what is.
Especially the first bullet which drives some, if not all the others.
I'd say all.
I also find it disturbing that the report fails to address how Afghanistan is or is not in the vital interests of the US. If we are going to fight a 25 year war (at about $3 billion dollars a month), then Afghanistan had better be in the vital interests of the US. And this report ought to clearly establish how winning in Afghanistan is in the vital interests of the US, which in my mind it didn't.
Now you've forced me to defend Barry. Not his job. I'd agree that a sage, thoughtful and highly competent former GeoComm commandante should be able to do that but...

That's really the crux, the vital interest part. I find it difficult to make a case that Afganistan, per se, is vital to US interests in any respect. OTOH, the fact that we went to Afghanistan and that we told them we would not again abandon them as we had post Soviet invasion has made the stand up of a viable (in regional and world norm, NOT western, terms) Afghanistan a vital US interest IMO.

Whether we should have made that statement or not is a different issue but we made it and we're stuck with it. We are already perceived as too willing to abandon people that we have encouraged to 'resist' (something...). I believe it is is vital in the true sense of the word that we stop doing that. Our reputation is not nearly as damaged in the world by the 'torture' mantra and the aggressiveness or even untrammeled capitalism as it is by not doing what we say we're going to do -- and by turning our backs on people who have simply done what we asked.

Could a better place to draw a line on that less than stellar behavior on our part have been found than Afghanistan or Iraq? Yes. However, again, we are where we are. So, I think it is vital that we finish it -- and I think it is the government's job to make and prove that point. Barry isn't helping...