Analysis: One surge doesn’t fit all

[unhappycamper]

Analysis: One surge doesn’t fit all
By Brian Murphy - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Dec 4, 2009 8:34:36 EST

BAGHDAD — America's military "surge" in Afghanistan shares the same goal as the first one in Iraq nearly three years ago: to stem runaway violence. But the comparisons quickly fade from there.

The U.S. reinforcements that poured into the Baghdad region in early 2007 had clearer objectives, better-trained local forces as allies and an established supply network to keep them moving. What awaits the 30,000 additional soldiers in Afghanistan is much more a work in progress.

As Davood Moradian, senior adviser to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, cautioned: "Afghanistan is not Iraq. Therefore, we have to be very careful about that."

The differences begin with what the Pentagon seeks to accomplish.

In Iraq, it was rather straightforward: to use the extra military muscle of 20,000 troops to calm a sectarian bloodbath between Sunni insurgents and the majority Shiites who took command of Iraq's politics and security forces after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Then-President Bush described it as giving some "breathing space" for the Baghdad government.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_afghanistan_analysis_120409/