Petraeus to face Congress as Afghanistan war doubts grow

[nadinbrzezinski]

Reporting from Washington When Gen. David H. Petraeus appears before Congress on Tuesday to tout progress in Afghanistan, he will face a series of pessimistic assessments about the state of the war, including the intelligence community's conclusion that tactical gains achieved by a U.S. troop surge have failed to fundamentally weaken the Taliban.

A year after the launch of a revamped counterinsurgency strategy, several major obstacles persist: The government of President Hamid Karzai is viewed as corrupt and ineffective, the Taliban exhibits a fierce will to fight, and the enemy enjoys safe havens in the tribal areas of Pakistan that drone strikes can disrupt but not eliminate, according to public U.S. intelligence assessments.

The difficulties raise questions about whether the U.S. is achieving sustainable gains in a 10-year-old war that is costing lives and billions of dollars, and whether the strategy can work on the timetable proposed by the Obama administration.

The U.S. plan is to continue aggressive operations against the Taliban while also training the Afghans to assume security responsibilities by 2014. The U.S. is scheduled to begin troop withdrawals in July, but those are expected to be small.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-petraeus-20110315,0,33454.story

[Hardrada]

1. Well, jeeze, duh......

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Just post it

[Hardrada]

3. These insufferable warmongers never do really get it, do they?

[Amonester]

4. :doublefacepalm:

bring them home and close the barn door

tell that commander-in-chief (by default) the troops will get too much radiation