Prospect of More U.S. Troops Worries Afghan Public

[Better Believe It]

Prospect of More U.S. Troops Worries Afghan Public
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
November 6, 2009

CHARIKAR, Afghanistan — As Americans, including President Obama’s top advisers, tensely debate whether to send more American troops to Afghanistan, Afghans themselves are having a similar discussion and voicing serious doubts.

In bazaars and university corridors across the country, eight years of war have left people exhausted and impatient. They are increasingly skeptical that the Taliban can be defeated. Nearly everyone agrees that the Afghan government must negotiate with the insurgents. If more American forces do arrive, many here say, they should come to train Afghans to take over the fight, so the foreigners can leave.

“What have the Americans done in eight years?” asked Abdullah Wasay, 60, a pharmacist in Charikar, a market town about 25 miles north of Kabul, expressing a view typical of many here. “Americans are saying that with their planes they can see an egg 18 kilometers away, so why can’t they see the Taliban?”

If the foreign forces are not seen so by Afghans already, they are on the cusp of being regarded as occupiers, with little to show people for their extended presence, fueling wild conspiracies about why they remain here.

The feeling is particularly acute in the Pashtun south, but it is spreading to other parts of the country. More American troops could tip the balance of opinion, particularly if they increase civilian casualties and prompt even more Taliban attacks.


“What have the Americans done in eight years?” asked Abdullah Wasay, a pharmacist in the town of Charikar who expressed impatience with the lingering war.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/world/asia/07doubts.html?_r=1&ref=world

[gateley]

1. Abdullah, many of us are asking the same question.

We have no answer. :(

[Vincardog]

2. They are there to guard Darth Cheney's pipeline.

[Truth2Tell]

3. K&R Why are they so ungrateful

for their glorious liberation by the spreaders of democracy?

:shrug: