Forward Observer: Don't Americanize Afghanistan

[The Straight Story]

Forward Observer: Don't Americanize Afghanistan
By George C. Wilson CongressDaily February 9, 2009

Formerly secret intelligence reports give a valuable insight into why Defense Secretary Robert Gates has so vehemently warned Congress not to try to Americanize the war against terrorists in Afghanistan.

Recall that Gates, whom former President George W. Bush named to succeed the polarizing Donald Rumsfeld as Defense secretary in December 2006, was a fully certified intelligence professional for almost 27 years and thus read, if not wrote, top-secret reports detailing the Soviet Union's disastrous occupation of Afghanistan.

He took the mistakes the Soviets made to heart and considers it as one of his missions as President Obama's carryover Defense secretary to keep the Congress, the White House, the Pentagon and the armed services from repeating them.

"The Soviets couldn't win that war with 120,000 troops and a completely ruthless approach to killing innocent civilians," Gates said last month in his first appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee as Obama's man at the Pentagon. "They had the wrong strategy. They were regarded properly as an invader."

While he supports Obama's plan to double the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan from roughly 34,000 today to about 60,000 as soon as practical, this Defense secretary -- who is now freer than ever to speak his mind because he is probably in his last government post, and glad of it -- is making it clear to Congress and presumably the commander-in-chief that he believes going much beyond the 30,000 U.S. troop surge would be a bad idea.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=41996&dcn=todaysnews

[bdab1973]

1. I don't even think that's possible...

Been there, and they are about as far removed from America as one can get...

[elocs]

2. I've heard that if you plopped Afghanistan down in Africa

that it would be the poorest country in the continent.