Johnson, Gorbachev, Obama - By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

[kpete]

Op-Ed Columnist
Johnson, Gorbachev, Obama
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: December 2, 2009

Imagine you’re a villager living in southern Afghanistan.

.................

You were always uncomfortable with foreign troops in your land, but it wasn’t so bad the first few years when there were only about 10,000 American soldiers in the entire country. Now, after President Obama’s speech on Tuesday, there soon will be 100,000. That’s three times as many as when the president took office, and 10 times as many as in 2003.

Hmmm. You still distrust the Taliban, but maybe they’re right to warn about infidels occupying your land. Perhaps you’ll give a goat to support your clansman who joined the local Taliban.

That’s why so many people working in Afghanistan at the grass roots are watching the Obama escalation with a sinking feeling. President Lyndon Johnson doubled down on the Vietnam bet soon after he inherited the presidency, and Mikhail Gorbachev escalated the Soviet deployment that he inherited in Afghanistan soon after he took over the leadership of his country. They both inherited a mess — and made it worse and costlier.

As with the Americans in Vietnam, and Soviets in Afghanistan, we understate the risk of a nationalist backlash; somehow Mr. Obama has emerged as more enthusiastic about additional troops than even the corrupt Afghan government we are buttressing.

more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/opinion/03kristof.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

[yurbud]

1. k & r

[Vincardog]

2. The world is saying "enough with the corrupt government buttressing." Not just in Afghanistan