Afghan Troop Surge Might Be Too Late

It seems like there are some naysayers to the plan to double the amount of US troops in Afghanistan.

“We may have missed the golden moment there,” said Lawrence Korb, a former Pentagon official who has long advocated an increased U.S. focus on Afghanistan.

The tension between the short-run need for more muscle to thwart the Taliban and the long-term trap of becoming the latest in a long line of foreign intruders bogged down in Afghanistan forms the core of the dilemma confronting Obama.

The only problem I have with this statement is that the other foreign intruders were there to conquer Afghanistan and pretty much subjugate their people. The British and then the Soviets had designs on making the country part of their spheres of influence. So they were looked at as occupiers because they were there with the goal to actually occupy the country for an extended period of time.

The US on the other hand just want to build a lasting peace in the country and then leave. They know that they cannot do that with the Taliban in charge. So they are trying to buff up the Afghan army and have work together to crush the Taliban again.

I think the US may be one of the only foreign intruders to sit down with tribal leaders (instead of installing them by fiat) and work out some kind of agreement to defeat the Taliban and rebuild the country at the same time. So the US is trying to do some road and school construction, while protecting the population with Afghan help, and killing the Taliban at the same time. Kind of like a humanitarian organization with tanks. It worked in Iraq so it should be at least given a shot in Afghanistan as well.