We didn’t commit to this thing for the sake of getting Pak to do anything in particular about Taliban.
we committed to seeing that training camps and lounge areas for terrorists were shut down, not merely re-located on the Pak side of Pashtunistan.it's not all that much mission creep cause we always knew that we had to follow the creeps.
last time around, the Taliban were holding territory and accepting battle.
this is different obviously.
and the battle, as I've been whining for quite a while, isn't really going to be won on the Af side of the border. we've got problems posing a credible threat cross-border now, moving troops out before getting something done over there doesn't seem helpful.
nah. removing the troops now not good. pressure on terrorists in Pakistan still a good idea and removing troops before seeing how the Pakistani government is going about things not at all good.
without our troops in area, Pakistan's forces are still dominant and there's no reason for them to give up using your pet terrorists to control Afghan side of the border and beyond.
Most of all, if this isn’t victory, what would victory look like?
I guess that victory would look like Af/Pak was no longer a hub of terror and a place where terrorists gathered before going out spreading their brand of joy. It might look like a place where people weren't upset that bin Laden got offed and angry at their government not for sheltering him but for allowing him to come to harm at our hands.
don't see anything forever about it.
as well, don't care to agree about
we committed to seeing that training camps and lounge areas for terrorists were shut down, not merely re-located on the Pak side of Pashtunistan.it's not all that much mission creep cause we always knew that we had to follow the creeps.
getting the Pakistani gov't to taking its army and clamping down on their "good taliban", the ones that only kill Afghans and NATO troops.
@ CK MacLeod:
last time around, the Taliban were holding territory and accepting battle.
this is different obviously.
and the battle, as I've been whining for quite a while, isn't really going to be won on the Af side of the border. we've got problems posing a credible threat cross-border now, moving troops out before getting something done over there doesn't seem helpful.
nah. removing the troops now not good. pressure on terrorists in Pakistan still a good idea and removing troops before seeing how the Pakistani government is going about things not at all good.
without our troops in area, Pakistan's forces are still dominant and there's no reason for them to give up using your pet terrorists to control Afghan side of the border and beyond.
I guess that victory would look like Af/Pak was no longer a hub of terror and a place where terrorists gathered before going out spreading their brand of joy. It might look like a place where people weren't upset that bin Laden got offed and angry at their government not for sheltering him but for allowing him to come to harm at our hands.
Maybe there's a little more to do, Matt.