If you don’t stick to the script I’ll let Cheney have you!
BONN, Germany — As dozens of nations and organizations met here on Monday to plan a transition beyond the withdrawal of American and other international forces from Afghanistan in 2014, the Afghan government had a new deadline in mind: 2024.
President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan officials here called for political and military support for at least another decade — and financial assistance that would not end until 2030. That would be nearly three decades after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 that led to the international intervention in Afghanistan…
Instead, as the months have passed, the tempo of the war has shown little sign of winding down, despite an optimistic assessment from NATO that it had reversed the momentum of the Taliban insurgents…
Even though President Obama and other NATO leaders created a timetable for withdrawal by 2014, few officials now expect any reconciliation talks to even begin by then. That has raised questions about security and the stability of Mr. Karzai’s government once international troops steadily begin to withdraw.
Mr. Karzai’s government presented a paper to the conference outlining Afghanistan’s plans for developing an economy now almost entirely dependent on international military and development spending…
…Just meeting the cost of Afghanistan’s military forces — which by 2014 are expected to total 400,000 soldiers — is estimated to cost $3.5 billion to $6 billion a year. By then, Afghanistan, the world’s 40th largest country, would have the world’s 12th largest military.
Thanks, George.
And let us offer up thanks to all the Republicans and Democrats who rubber stamped every foreign adventure of the Bush/Cheney years. Let us offer up thanks to Barack Obama who campaigned to bring the troops home – not over a vague and changeable schedule – but, as soon as he was inaugurated.
Eideard you got to get your little liberal Digg in
(I spelled digg on purpose since this blog is turning into a liberal circle jerk like Digg is now) take note at the fall of digg since its revamp and hard left turn.
A liberal circle jerk.
Amen.
Did I hear circle-jerk? I’m here for the circle-jerk, as always, started by the Republicans “for the Liberals.”
Go to it men, you know what to do.
I’m not willing. Next.
Not willing either and demand 100% withdraw from that trillion dollar Republican led cesspool. President Obama, stick to YOUR plan.
Who’s the goober with the hat?
Cheney, the man without a heart…
…or a pulse.
My first thought was Darth Vader.
I think the goober hat guy played in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”:
http://images.tvrage.com/people_galleries/7/19830/83335.jpg
Beat me to it.
But I think Cheney is the more heartless.
#1
He’s just like everyone else on every single blog, offering his opinion on the subject matter. This is NOT a news site. To think otherwise is ludicrous. If you want news read the newspapers and watch local news. If you want one sided dem/rep news go view news cable channels.
I don’t expect much except to vent and make smartass remarks for the day here. I don’t expect good grammar, I don’t expect decent members, I don’t expect well informed members but the total opposite, and I certainly don’t expect this blog to be fair.
See, that’s how it goes…I’d made a smartass comment and ended with a vent! That’s how you blog!
Guy in the hat is a dick, a Cheney Dick. How can anyone not notice, the devils face be be seen on it.
Dick Cheney’s best accomplishment is to continue to cause leftists to get mad and realize they can’t do anything about it. Funny. Same with Palin. You libs just can’t stand a dissenting opinion of your naive world-view.
You should all get bongos for Christmas and beat off and sing folk songs.
What the heck! Christmas is coming up!
Bongos make great presents. The wood can be beautiful, and kids like them.
I’ve said it before but here goes: I remember from around ’05 to the middle of ’08 hearing conservatives gripe, beg, or pray “..anyone but Hillary.” Some people will never be satisfied.
“I can see Russia from my house” is not a world view.
So.
U going to vote D or R and be part of the problem again next national election? The politicians are innocents compared to the people who hired them.
Bingo!
I’m going to vote “R” for Ron Paul and be part of the solution.
I don’t consider Ron Paul to be ‘R’ which is why I Bingo’d him.
But you are technically correct and I retract my statement and Bingo you 🙂
No surprise here! Of course they want us to stay when we’re giving them FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE!!! LMFAO……throw me some!!
The Afghanis are doing this the wrong way.
1. Start a bank
2. Lend money to everyone so it looks like your books are solid
3. Trade those loans and mortgages as derivatives until they are worth 3 cents on the dollar
4. Take the profits from those trades as bonuses
5. Threaten the civilised world with a dark age unless the people they lent the money to bail them out
6. Lend that money back to the people who bailed them out
7. Trade those loans and mortgages as…well you get the picture now.
I don’t think I’ve seen it described so succinctly before.
Nice job.
>4. Take the profits from those trades as bonuses
instead of taking the profits as reserves
nice!
great breakdown.
though i’ll never understand how (*still*) most the entire planet thinks that if a bunch of non-existent numbers in a computer “vanish” it’ll be the end of the world as we know it.
-has to be the best example of delusional brainwashing of all time..
(well ok.. it runs a close second to “the washed masses” who still think somehow, there is a difference between the left and right parties)
-s
I suspect that the Americans only have one word to say to them: “TOUGH!!!
The US are going to leave behind a force to make sure that Bin Laden wannabes don’t have a safe haven to strike at the US again, but American don’t give a rats-ass what happens to them.
Let the Taliban have the sand-flea and scorpion infested poppy growing country for 50 years or so and then the US’ll be back to rape the mineral wealth of the mountains and cart it off in humongous trucks… (Two story tall truck tires on a 300-ton ore hauler would shrug off the puniness of the Taliban and their IDEs with out so much as noticing. Likewise a road train of driverless GPS controlled automated haulers gives no position to attack.)
Its better it the Taliban think that their Caliphate is powerful. The US won’t discourage them.
It’ll be easier to sweep away next time. (As it was, the country had descended into a target poor environment. Bombs we just shifting rubble around.)
Tough is exactly what Obama should say.
Guaranteed reelection if he goes on TV and tells the Anerican sheeple that his decision is not only No, but Hell No !!!
Sadly, Obama is not the arrogant mofo he needs to be in this case.
The Afghans are just following sharia law. It says that us infidels are to be charged an extra tax while under their projection.
Looks like we got a little jizya on our faces!
Soviets rolled out, US rolled in.
The difference: US has much more money to spend before going bankrupt on drones and all sorts of terror-contract rackets for money making.
That’s the Terror-Dividend (cf. the War-Dividend)
The Brits foundered on Afghanistan. The Russians/Soviets foundered on Afghanistan. Now the Americans are doing the same.
The only difference between these Empires is the speed of their wars and length of involvement. We’re far more efficient at spending plunder and lives on this dry, rocky outcrop of a country.
The thing these Empires have in common is the downfall that follows. Methinks either China or India will try this foolhardy venture next.
The only army I ever heard of that did well around there was led by Alexander the Great!
Har har.. what a brilliantly timed scam..
Just when Pakistan and now Russia threaten permanent closure of the supply lines to the US/NATO cabal (“the resupply road” for the pakis and the fuel pipeline for russia) -all of a sudden, Afghani’s are almost demanding a permanent occupation of the invasion forces.. yeah right.. -this from the country that never has never been conquered in some 1500yrs..
I guess the CIA anticipates a much booming heroin/morphine business in the years to come and the Western states in general will do *anything* to keep china’s “win-win” operation from moving in and mining up all that wonderful lithium that was found for it’s anticipated Lith-Ion battery boom for all those useless electric cars Green Cabal of the West want to build.
(as well as export the lithium waste by-products in our drinking water because you know, like fluoride, it’s healthy for you..)
Anyone who believes this story at face value should have their head examined.
-s
I was with you until one of your synapses fired off out of the top of your head and lit the christmas tree on fire.
10 years? Ha! Try 50 years.
George Bush surged in Iraq to great success. Obama surge in Iraq to great failure. The difference was everyone could see that Obama’s top priority was not success in Afghanistan but politics of withdrawal.