Obama treads Soviet road out of Kabul

[Robb]

Obama treads Soviet road out of Kabul By M K Bhadrakumar

The new Afghan strategy announced by United States President Barack Obama last Tuesday is a game-changer in regional politics across a broad swathe of the international system. The reactions in capitals as far removed as Beijing, Tehran, New Delhi and Moscow amply bear this out.

Broadly speaking, just about everyone understands that the US surge of 30,000 additional troops in Afghanistan is a passing necessity. It merely provides the gateway to an end-game strategy aimed at ensuring American power doesn't get bogged down in a pointless quagmire in the Hindu Kush.

Quintessentially, it is the first dazzling display of "smart power" that the Obama administration promised the world audience when it assumed office in January. No one expected that American military power or the US capacity to exercise power was going to be replenished in the conceivable future.

(snip)

...It is Moscow's reaction that ought to catch Obama's close attention as his administration navigates its way through the difficult period ahead. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement on Wednesday began with the curiously worded articulation that "Moscow, in general, regards positively the key points of the renewed US strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan". It expressed a hope that Obama's strategy would contribute to the "speedy formation of Afghanistan as a self-sustaining, prosperous and independent state, free from drug crime and terrorism".

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[madrchsod]

1. he`s going to win the hearts and minds of the Afghans

or something like that.