About Afghanistan

President Barack Obama said Wednesday a “time of war” was ending in a moment of American renewal, on a secret trip to Afghanistan.

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Obama [...] dropped from night skies into Kabul amid secrecy and tight security and signed a deal with President Hamid Karzai, cementing 10 years of US aid for Afghanistan after NATO combat troops leave in 2014.

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The pact, agreed last month, sees the possibility of American forces staying behind to train Afghan forces and pursue the remnants of Al-Qaeda for 10 years, but does not commit Washington to specific troop or funding levels for Afghanistan.

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In a highly political election-year address from outside Kabul, Obama showcased his record as a commander-in-chief who ended two long wars, and conjured up a new dawn for a nation exhausted by conflict and recession.

  Raw Story

Stop the presses! His record does not yet include ending TWO wars. Nice try.

“This time of war began in Afghanistan, and this is where it will end,” Obama said, recalling a “decade under the dark cloud of war,” after US troops were drawn into the Afghan quagmire after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

It will end in Afghanistan?  What about Pakistan, Yemen, Sudan? Do we stop warring on them then as well?  We have two years, apparently, to sort them out.

“Yet here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon.”

Pretty words in Afghanistan. Where there's plenty of light for people to see their bombed out homes and the graves of their children, while they await the next suicide bombing or the next drone attack – one or the other will come this week, maybe today. (UPDATE:  yep, today.)  And I bet they thrilled to this:

“The Iraq War is over. The number of our troops in harm’s way has been cut in half, and more will be coming home soon. We have a clear path to fulfill our mission in Afghanistan, while delivering justice to Al-Qaeda,” he said.

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“A united America of grit and resilience, where sunlight glistens off soaring new towers in downtown Manhattan, and we build our future as one people, as one nation,” Obama said.

Oh, wait. He's not even talking to the Afghans.

“As we emerge from a decade of conflict abroad and economic crisis at home, it is time to renew America,” Obama said against a backdrop of military vehicles in their sandy desert liveries.

Must be campaign season. Speaking to the American troops! Photo op!

Obama also addressed soldiers at Bagram air force base. “It’s still tough, the battle is not yet over. Some of your buddies are going to get injured, some of your buddies may get killed,” Obama said.

Oooh. Applause killer.  (And, by the way, some of YOU.  A fact of which they all are no doubt keenly aware. )

“There is going to be heartbreak and pain and difficulty ahead, but there is a light on the horizon because of the sacrifices you have made.”

And here I have a question for these troops: How do you feel about “fighting – and dying - for our freedom and protecting our rights at home” when we are busy giving them up back here?

I'm not entirely sure that locking the credibility of the foreign policy of the United States to Hamid Karzai's ability to become some sort of regional leader isn't a unicorn hunt of the first order.

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A third of our casualties this year have been inflicted by the very Afghan Security Forces to whom the president on Tuesday night insisted he will hand the country in two years.

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He doesn't yet have a good answer to the question of what we will do if what he is telling us about the Afghans will do isn't matched by reality going forward. If what's left of the mission is only that whole standing-down-and-standing-up thing, what's so magical about two years? Why not ten? Why not six months? Is there evidence that the Afghan security forces will be up to the job in two years?

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Americans need to have explained, in detail, what in the hell we're still doing over there, and it's going to have to be better than talking about what we want to have happen, what we hope will happen, and about ending the war "responsibly."

  Charlie Pierce

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

And, no, apparently Americans don't need any of that explained.  They don't seem to be complaining very much.