Government Study Warns Afghanistan In A "Downward Spiral": Report

A draft report by American intelligence agencies concludes that Afghanistan is in a "downward spiral" and casts serious doubt on the ability of the Afghan government to stem the rise in the Taliban's influence there, according to American officials familiar with the document.

The classified report finds that the breakdown in central authority in Afghanistan has been accelerated by rampant corruption within the government of President Hamid Karzai and by an increase in violence by militants who have launched increasingly sophisticated attacks from havens in Pakistan.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[CHARLESTHETENTH]

As said.. all this due to lack of leadership from the White House...What about gross incompetence of our President. The Wars, the financial crisis, the Mideast crises etc....rests on the shoulders of our President who not only does not know what is going on but does not know how to deal with it if he did. We see that time and time again. If he is not reading from a prepared script he is totally lost and comes across as a real "bozo". A President that has spent more time at his Ranch than at the White House. A President who tries to look Presidential from all the photo ops. A favorite shows him sitting at his Desk in the Oval Office..pen in hand...glasses resting on his nose and mulling over a pile of seemingly important papers.. We can't see the papers so we really don't know what he is looking at. Somehow you get the impression that he doesn't know either. The American people got what they paid for at the voting booth and now all have to suffer the consequences.

[Bocado]

This would make a great op-ed piece. lol

[ExpatNL]

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev calls for Europe to freeze out US

The Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, has called on European leaders to create a new world order that minimises the role of the US

>>>

Best idea I have heard in YEARS.

[KCFreedom]

We might actually get our country back and kick some a$$. Who needs them, anyway?

[researcher]

we will leave broke and with our tails between our legs like the russians did

no one has ever taken control of that country.

no one in history

[rich misty]

Not only Afghanistan, but the GOP has permitted the US to spiral downwards as well.

[usakaput]

NO FOREIGN POWER HAS EVER HELD ONTO AFGHANISTAN FOR ANY LONG AMOUNT OF TIME. WHY ARE WE WASTING OUR INDEBTED TREASURY RESOURCES ON A DYING HORSE? WE REFUSED TO GO AFTER BIN LADEN,SO WE MIGHT AS WELL LEAVE THIS MONEY DRAIN OR FOCUS ON THE REAL WAR ON THE FRONTIER AREAS ,AS WELL AS THE WAR AT HOME.

[KCFreedom]

Oh, but leaving is "SURRENDER".

I guess bankrupting our country, just like the Soviet Union before us, is less important than the stigma of "surrender".

[PADDYWHACK]

Republicans have brought us military,diplomatic and economic disaster.So appropriate for the bible thumoing party to bring us biblical scale ruin.

[SenatorTerrorTies]

So how do you all feel about this?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-ap-guantanamo-chinese-detainee,0,2303483.story
Are these not the folks you thought deserved the rights of Americans? What about now that they are being release in your back yard?

[Academic]

Glad to see that some of you Americans after your misplaced and arrogant hubris are being forced to take a reality check.

Professor Dr. Stanley Collymore
London, England.

[SenatorTerrorTies]

Get bent. I would never give you the honor of calling you Dr.

[KCFreedom]

Yea, yea, most of the American people know this, but, don't forget, you guys are HELPING us!

If the U.K. was to remove their troops, we'd probably have to leave, too.
But Gordo doesn't have the balls to do so.

We have cooked elections, so we can't do much about it, other than face our new fancy crowd control weapons.

The Dems won't do it, either. After all, that is termed "surrender" these days, and the mean Republicans will spit insults at them.

So, there.

[usakaput]

THANK YOU FOR REMINDING US ABOUT OUR ARROGANCE. STICK IT UP YOUR ARSE LIMEY

[lfotweaker]

The predatory system has really revealed itself. Unfortunately, there are plenty who still think the solution will come after the next election.

[bipolar2]

You seem to have forgotten that Britain was not always the first post-industrial third-world country. Only now can its impotent elites enjoy wallowing in their own moral rectitude.

Those dusty battle flags hanging in many a parish church ought quietly be put to rest:

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

~Kipling To a young British soldier

[RoloTomassi]

A "War on Terror" was an absurd concept to begin with, but doubly so in Afghanistan; did we learn nothing from our assistance to the Afghans during their fight against the Russians?

A far different approach--one that requires a significant reworking of the CIA--is required in Afghanistan, and in any other location where terrorism is a signifcant threat. We need to create a program that would utilize a revamped CIA intelligence/police action covert force to deal with terrorists, and to abandon these wrong-minded notions of nation building.

It would seem to be the height of arrogance to assume that we can remake any nation in our image, but such is largely a financial market consideration, and is an effort that uses the "war on terror" as an excuse to force our clearly self-serving notions of free market commerce on nations that would not move in that direction on their own. Equally exploited are any such nation's natural resources and/or strategic value; these underlying goals are the true reason the US wages a "war on terror," rather than to pursue a more sensible program that would, in all likelihood, yield a far more effective result.

By our acceptance of the premise of a "war on terror" we swallow a completely bogus line of BS.

Our only sensible option for Afghanistan is to change our approach; otherwise we will become even more mired in a protracted and expensive effort that will end badly.

[gcallaghan]

Republicans = Military Failure

[SenatorTerrorTies]

Explain. We have never failed militarily. Again - NEVER. To include Vietnam. Do some research, kid - and see where the failures lie.

[KCFreedom]

Well, if you want to go back to the Civil War, the War of 1812, and the Revolutionary War, we did fail militarily in some of those battles.

Also, our military proxies pretty much failed in Nicaragua. The Sandanistas only stepped down due to ECONOMIC pressure. And, Daniel Ortega is President again. Full-circle.

[holeybuybull]

Silly wabbit,
Whenever a country has to resort to military action, it has failed. There are no winners in war, only losers.

[MajorKong]

The war of 1812 was hardly a stunning military success. Our invasion of Canada was repulsed and we pretty much settled on British terms to end the war. The one major battle we won was after the war had already ended.

Korea was a three year bloodbath that ended in a draw.

If we couldn't win Vietnam with 500,000 troops and more bomb tonnage than all of WWII I'd hardly call that a stunning success either.

[Viper]

Samilia, Lebanon but we did when in Granada under Reagan! Whoopie.

Since WW2 we have only taken on countires with under 25 million in population or 1/10th our size and they were 3rd world countries with 40 year old weapon systems! WOW, especially when we spend more on our militray than all other countries in the world combined, but rank 37th in healthcare, 51st in lieracy, 22/23 in Science and math!

That's like getting your rocks off because you beat up a 2nd grader when you were in sixth grade!

Given the cost of Iraq, Osma Bin Ladden has already won the war on terror!

Regards

[GrainOSand]

"Inside the government, reports issued by the Central Intelligence Agency for more than two years have chronicled the worsening violence and rampant corruption inside Afghanistan, and some in the agency say they believe that it has taken the White House too long to respond to the warnings."

Hmmm?


"In a sign of the seriousness of the administration"s policy review, the White House"s top coordinator for Afghanistan policy, Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute of the Army, will lead a team of specialists who will go there to assess the situation, a senior administration official said Wednesday.

Administration officials say the review is examining how and where the nearly $6 billion in annual American assistance to Afghanistan is being spent;"

Really, this is just now beginning to be a prudent approach, assessing where the money went?

So much money has been stolen on both wars, generations of families have been financially secured, and on this, there can be no doubt. I want to trust you Mr. President but you lied to me more than once already, and you know what they say about "fool me twice".