U.S. Considers Faster Pullout In Afghanistan

[Eugene]

Source: New York Times

By MARK MAZZETTI and MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Published: July 8, 2013

WASHINGTON — Increasingly frustrated by his dealings with President Hamid Karzai, President Obama is giving serious consideration to speeding up the withdrawal of United States forces from Afghanistan and to a “zero option” that would leave no American troops there after next year, according to American and European officials.

Mr. Obama is committed to ending America’s military involvement in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, and Obama administration officials have been negotiating with Afghan officials about leaving a small “residual force” behind. But his relationship with Mr. Karzai has been slowly unraveling, and reached a new low after an effort last month by the United States to begin peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar.

Mr. Karzai promptly repudiated the talks and ended negotiations with the United States over the long-term security deal that is needed to keep American forces in Afghanistan after 2014.

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The option of leaving no troops in Afghanistan after 2014 was gaining momentum before the June 27 video conference, according to the officials. But since then, the idea of a complete military exit similar to the American military pullout from Iraq has gone from being considered the worst-case scenario — and a useful negotiating tool with Mr. Karzai — to an alternative under serious consideration in Washington and Kabul.

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Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/world/asia/frustrated-obama-considers-full-troop-withdrawal-from-afghanistan.html

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. Yes, get the hell out. And stay out!

[warrant46]

14. How many "Contractors" will stay at obscene salaries?

100,000 ---more?

[Kolesar]

26. How many "Contractors" stayed behind when we left Iraq?

Zero?

[warrant46]

27. It's Classified

How many are protecting the world's largest embassy?

[warrant46]

29. OOPS according to CNN March 19 2013 ===Contractors reap $138B from Iraq war

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/19/business/iraq-war-contractors

None has benefited more than KBR, once known as Kellogg Brown and Root. The controversial former subsidiary of Halliburton, which was once run by Dick Cheney, vice-president to George W. Bush, was awarded at least $39.5bn in federal contracts related to the Iraq war over the past decade.

Two Kuwaiti companies -- Agility Logistics and the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation -- are the second and third-biggest winners, securing contracts worth $7.2bn and $6.3bn respectively.

There are still 14,000 contractors, including 5,500 security guards, in Iraq even though the last troops left in December 2011.

"Contractors are here to stay as real players," says Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general of Iraq reconstruction. "The opportunities in this field are shaped by the unpredictable rhythm of when a fragile state will fail."

[Kolesar]

34. 14,000 not 100,000 eom

[yurbud]

51. Easy way to clear them out: stop payment on their checks

[wordpix]

2. long overdue, get out, we should never have been there in the first place except to haul OBL out

mission accomplished, goodbye. Enough dead Americans--- fighting for what? I have a friend whose nephew lost two legs in Afghanistan. For what? That corrupt snake Karzai?

[SunSeeker]

3. K & R

[msongs]

4. would be nice. will our MIL sue taxpayers for cutting off the welfare gravy train? nt

[warrant46]

49. Who will be the last to die for the Empire

Answer: A clueless tool of the M I complex

[another_liberal]

5. Yes! Finally, yes!

Why couldn't the President have wised-up back in 2009? If only he hadn't been blinded by all of those shiny medals and brightly colored ribbons on all of those oh so sharply pressed uniforms. God Damn, what a pointless waste!

[cheapdate]

6. Can't come soon enough.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

7. Must be some other pressing war we must fight elsewhere soon.

I cant believe that was my first thought.

[AtheistCrusader]

10. A frighteningly rational question, actually.

[Katashi_itto]

16. I was thinking the same thing

[AnotherMcIntosh]

21. Yes. Syria.

[warrant46]

50. Whereever the action will make Halliburton make a buck or two

[Botany]

8. That place is not worth one more American life ...

.... the President is a crook, his brother is one of the biggest heroin dealers in the
world, and 20 to 25% of all NATO causalities are from Afghan police or military ...
the people we have paid for and helped to train ..... we had a chance in 2001 and
2002 to get in and make a difference but W wanted his war in Iraq and pretty soon
we and our allies were seen as one more in a long line of foreign armies that have
tried to exert their will in Afghanistan just like the Russians, the Brits, the Mongols,
and ......


BTW I feel awful for any woman that gets to stay in Afghanistan where the Taliban
will come back into power.

[Skittles]

9. WHY ARE WE STILL THERE?????

[bemildred]

23. So it would not look so bad. I know, crazy, isn't it? nt

[daleo]

39. Peace with honor

Like Viet Nam.

[Skittles]

42. I remember Viet Nam from when I was a kid

it just pains me that they would do it again - so freaking SOON

[awoke_in_2003]

43. People are still making money. nt

[Skittles]

46. BINGO

[Fearless]

11. Read: We want to stay but they want us to leave.

How out of touch can you get?!

[unhappycamper]

12. Since our Afghan occupation consumes around $2 billion US dollars a week,

getting out makes sense.

I can hardly wait to see what they do to ALL the military equipment there.

[pimpbot]

17. They are scrapping it, burning it, and destroying it

http://rt.com/news/afghanistan-us-withdrawal-war-003/

We probably aren't even selling it to a recycler.

[DCBob]

18. This is hard to believe.

[hack89]

25. Why pay to haul it back and then scrap it here?

lets not forget that the Army is downsizing - they will not be needing that equipment in the future.

[obxhead]

31. bullshit

"They're" already planning the next conflict. Even if there are no further plans it's time to pour trillions into "updating" our war toys at taxpayer expense to further enrich the 1%.

[Comrade Grumpy]

40. It's pretty fucking profligate with our tax dollars.

That's $7 billion worth of MRAPs they're turning into scrap.

What, are we buying disposable multi-million vehicles now? By the thousands.

Why don't they fucking put 'em eBay or something?

[hack89]

41. The military never wanted the MRAPs

because they are useless in a real war.

No one else wants them - they are expensive to operate and fix.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

20. Will a Syrian invasion cost any less?

[DCBob]

13. Very good news! I wish we were already out of there but..

I do understand the complications and risks of a rapid pullout.

[Thor_MN]

15. Wish that Cantor's, McConnell's, McCain's, and Graham's fathers had done the same.

[47of74]

22. Or their mothers had a headache.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

19. Is it time to invade Syria?

[Dawgs]

24. Good news, but should have left 3+ years ago.

Too many families destroyed by war - both here and abroad.

[DCBob]

30. I guess the 7+ years of Bush's warmongering in AF were ok?

Its only wrong since Obama took office... got it.

[Dawgs]

32. No you don't 'got it'. We should have never went into Afghanistan.

Bush was wrong about starting the thing in the first place, and he was wrong for staying as long as he did.

But this thread is about what Obama did and is doing in Afghanistan. Defend or deny all you want, but Obama is wrong on Afghanistan.

[DCBob]

35. You do realize AF was where AQ/OBL were holed up & where they planned and trained for 9-11?

Most Americans agreed with the initial invasion to take out AQ. I also supported President Obama in getting out of Iraq and putting more focus on AF. Although now its clearly time to get out.

[Dawgs]

38. I'm a Democrat. I'm against all war for any reason.

Not gonna change just because President is a Democrat that's okay with war.

[DCBob]

47. Since when does being a Democrat mean being "against all war for any reason"?

[yurbud]

28. Just the Obama part of the Afghan War has been longer than WWII

pull the plug, declare victory, leave the quicksand for the next superpower to step in.

[Skittles]

33. I love the word "faster"

as if it hasn't been.....ten fucking years

[yurbud]

36. Wasn't our part of the Vietnam War shorter than this?

[dipsydoodle]

48. That puts it in perspective.

[Ash_F]

37. Good, we can finally put ten years of shame and embarrassment behind us.

And open up brand new doors of shame and embarrassment.

[DeSwiss]

44. Don't worry.....

...I'm sure they'll find a reason to stay.

- Otherwise they'll have to find another country to shoot their guns in.....

K&R

[HardTimes99]

45. We're starting 'peace talks' iwth the Taliban in Qatar? But, but, but . . . I

thought we don't "negotiate with terrorists"???

What-the-fuck-ever. All the rationales for our presence in Afghanistan have long since been revealed as the hollow pretensions of imperial rot.

Anyone still supporting this bullshit is supporting the efforts of the 1% to enrich themselves at the expense of the 99%.