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“There will be a long, protracted occupation of Afghanistan”
Published: 11 December, 2009, 02:50
Edited: 14 December, 2009, 05:51
Soldiers from first Batallion,32nd infantry Regiment 3rd Brigade,10th Mountain division patrol near Shigal village in Kunar province eastern Afghanistan on December 7, 2009 (AFP Photo / Tauseef Mustafa)
(25.5Mb) embed videoTAGS: Conflict, Military, Middle East, Politics, USA
There are signals that the 18-month deadline is a soft one and there are plans to keep a number of troops in Afghanistan, writer Kelley Vlahos told RT.
“By July 2011 there will be at least 200,000 either contractors or coalition personnel in Afghanistan,” Vlahos said. “To get them out of there in 18 months would be impossible. But we are already hearing signals that this is a soft headline, that there are plans to keep a number of troops in there for training purposes, for reconstruction. So we are talking about a long, protracted occupation which I believe was hardwired from the beginning. It’s just Obama was tasked with trying to sell this to the American public.”
10.12.2009, 21:53
2 comments
Celebrating 10 years of spreading US values in post-Soviet landsTen years ago the US Congress launched the Open World exchange program to introduce decision-makers from around Eurasia to American values and principles. |
11.12.2009, 03:23
“Americans tend to forget that people, not machines, win wars”The Pentagon is using some of its most sophisticated weaponry in Afghanistan, but defense industry expert Winslow Wheeler says Americans have a technological ignorance when it comes to machines’ capabilities. |
I wonder how America would feel if some nation decided there would be a long and protracted occupation of the United States. UAV's regularly bombing homes and the army assisting Methlab's across the country spread their Meth for extra cash. I think people would be Furious! However, anti-Islamic propaganda has worked wonders as many believe they are animals and out to destroy democracy. The leader of this mess received a Nobel Peace Prize. Very Interesting. Doesn't matter he didn't start it, some may say that. He expanded it and supports it.
If the USA doesn't start to get out before the 2012 election, you can bet that Afghanistan has a lot of uranium, thorium, rare earths, oil, gas, lithium, gold, diamonds, or other very valuable undeveloped resources that the Pentagon believes, that the Iranians, Chinese, or someone else, can't be allowed to control alone, should America get out, and they move in. It wouldn't shock me, if a secret deal with Russia hasn't already been cut, to share whatever has been secretly found, probably by satellites in orbit using remote sensing. Why else would Russia let the US transit its' territory after America helped kill so many Russians during the First Afghan War, and possibly encouraged the dangerous Georgian attack? Threatening to put new missiles on each other's borders, isn't exactly indicative of friendly relations. But as we all know, big mineral money talks. Mining is the fastest way to great wealth. And China has already tried to buy huge chunks of the giant Australian miners, causing alarm among a large segment of the Australian electorate and military. And many geologists say that peak oil could be less than a decade away. Isn't some percentage of whatever is in Afghanistan, a lot better than fighting over it, and possibly end up starting WW III? No winners in that one. My theory sounds like a plot for the next James Bond movie, but stranger things have happened. We will probably know in a couple of years. Think about the fact that Mr.Gates just said that the US will remain in Iraq for 'many years.' So will the oil. Isn't Saddam still dead?
The countries of the world need to get their act together before it is too late. World War III will end the world, as we know it today. A little political advantage or potential vast wealth is nothing when stacked up against the risk of global war and total destruction for all. Common sense seems to be a very rare commodity everywhere today. Globalization {NEW WORLD ORDER} is useless, even to the billionaires who own the world, if it destroys the world in the process.