NATO should finish job in Afghanistan, Putin says

[bemildred]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - NATO forces should stay in Afghanistan until they have finished their job to ensure stability, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, criticizing the planned withdrawal of most combat troops by 2014.

Putin reiterated Kremlin concerns that the pull-out of the U.S.-led alliance, due to start next year, will leave the Central Asian region south of Russia vulnerable to militant violence and drug trafficking.

"It is regrettable that many participants in this operation are thinking about how to pull out of there. They took up this burden and should carry it to the end," Putin said at a meeting with paratroopers in the Russian city of Ulyanovsk.

"If there is no order in Afghanistan it will not be calm on our southern borders. The current (Afghan) leadership will have difficulties keeping the situation under control. NATO member states are present there, and are performing this function," he said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/01/us-russia-nato-afghanistan-idUSBRE87011Q20120801

[Fuddnik]

1. Hey Vlad, you can have it back.

He knows the job will never be finished. He must have an interest in a body bag company.

[KamaAina]

2. "They took up this burden and should carry it to the end"

Now, now, Vlad. That's no way to talk about your predecessors!

[coalition_unwilling]

3. Putin's words ilustrate the wisdom in LaRochefoucauld's maxim that "there is

something in the misfortune of our friends that does not deeply displease us" (roughly translated).

He's probably laughing up his sleeve as the bitter fruit of Bush's douchebaggery ripens.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Sounds about right

[Igel]

5. Doesn't apply here.

Putin's not our friend. He's also no friend to Afghanistan. You can push that "overload" button all you want, it doesn't matter. (That was a good one: We said 'reset' in English, and "overburden' in Russian. Or possibly 'burden shifting'.)

And the "bitter fruit" will be more what the Afghans suffer than what we suffered, and the fall out for other Central Asian countries. That includes Russia for this discussion.

[coalition_unwilling]

7. Yipes, I was speaking ironically when i said 'friend'. Putin would like nothing better than

for America's imperial hubris to bleed out in the wilds of the Hindu Kush, a trend that is well underway. (Four more NATO troops were killed from hostile fire just today.)

There's plenty of bitter fruit to go around, both for Afghans and for the NATO forces carrying out the occupation.

[bemildred]

6. He's being cute, that's all. nt