Tag: afghanistan

Escalation Scam: Troops in Afghanistan

The president has set a limit on the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. For now.  That’s how escalation works. Ceilings become floors. Gradually.  A few times since last fall, the Obama team has floated rising numbers for how many additional U.S. soldiers will be sent to Afghanistan. Now, deployment of 21,000 more is a … Continue reading “Escalation Scam: Troops in Afghanistan”

One Step Forward,
One Step Back

According to the July 3 Cleveland Plain Dealer, President Barack Obama said something very interesting last week. He told the AP that he has "a very narrow definition of success when it comes to our national security interests" in Afghanistan. "And that is that al-Qaeda and its affiliates cannot set up safe havens from which … Continue reading “One Step Forward,
One Step Back”

In Afghanistan, 4,000 Marines to ‘Drink Lots of Tea’

After months of planning and putting pieces in order, aspects of the new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan are beginning to be concretely implemented — including a surge of troops and attempts to curtail the poppy trade that allegedly funds insurgents. But some aspects of the new strategy are lagging behind, and questions linger about the … Continue reading “In Afghanistan, 4,000 Marines to ‘Drink Lots of Tea’”

US Uses False Taliban Aid Charge to Pressure Iran

The Barack Obama administration has given new prominence to a Bush administration charge that Iran is providing military training and assistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan, for which no evidence has ever been produced, and which has been discredited by data obtained by IPS from the Pentagon itself. The new twist in the charge is … Continue reading “US Uses False Taliban Aid Charge to Pressure Iran”