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Biden told Obama Afghan war plan flawed – leaked memo

Published time: June 26, 2012 01:04
Edited time: June 26, 2012 07:05
US President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, honors the 2012 National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) TOP COPS award winners at a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC on May 12, 2012 (AFP Photo/Yuri Gripas)

US Vice President Joe Biden had warned President Barack Obama that the plan to send up to 40,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in 2009 was flawed, says a leaked memo released in a new book on the conflict.

The memo reflected Biden’s view that military commanders were asking Obama to take a leap by adding tens of thousands of forces whose role was poorly defined, the Associated Press that obtained a copy of the book reports.

The book by a Washington Post correspondent, “Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan,” reveals how Biden used a months-long White House review of the war to question the basic premise that the same "counterinsurgency" strategy that had apparently worked in Iraq could be applied to Afghanistan.

"I do not see how anyone who took part in our discussions could emerge without profound questions about the viability of counterinsurgency," Biden wrote to Obama. To work, the counterinsurgency or "COIN" doctrine requires military gains to be paired with advances in government services, a "credible" Afghan government and Afghan security services that can take over, he said.

The vice president suggested sending 20,000 troops – half the size requested by then-war commander Gen. Stanly McChrystal. Obama eventually agreed for a compromise sending 30,000 troops and setting a deadline to begin bringing them home.

Comments (13)

Ottoman (unregistered) 01.07.2012 15:18

DennisFRA (unregistered) wrote in #4
One can have its own opinion to whatever, but everyday you hear US-Soldiers being defeated in AFG. They never knew what they died for, somebody else knows?
Hi my friend,Probably this is the answer of your quastion...It is estimated that forty million years ago the tectonic plates of India-Europe, Asia and Africa collided in a massive upheaval. This upheaval created the region of towering mountains that now includes Afghanista n. This diverse geological foundation has resulted in a significant mineral heritage with over 1,400 mineral occurrences recorded to date, including gold, copper, lith ium, uranium, iron ore, cobalt, natural gas and oil. Afghanistan's resources could make it the richest mining region on earth. In 2010, Pentagon officials and American geologists discovered about $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan.Afghanis tan has over 90 rich mineral fields with an easy extraction and utilisation possibility, according to information published by Persian Encyclopedia of Economics and Management. Based on the information most of Afghan mines are still intact. With the biggest rich mines of lapis, gold, turquoise, coal, copper, lithium, iron, barite and as well as oil and gas fields. Afghanistan is one of the countries with the richest and biggest intact mines in the world.  the New York Times gushingly pronounced that Afghanistan, with at least $1 trillion in untapped minerals, was poised to become “the Saudi Arabia of lithium.” as Afganistan has %80 of Lithium   in the World. Lithium is a vital metal that is mostly used in the manufacture of rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops and electric cars. As tablet PC's smart phones, iPhone, iPad, NAVIGATORs getting populer the war in Afgan lands will not stop.

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WORLDWIDE MAJOR BANKS ALL INSOLVENT & BANKRUPT USA STILL SPENDING CHINA'S MONEY (unregistered) 27.06.2012 16:11

Go ask alice. The world is mad. The human race is mad. The US is grotesque.

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Constance (unregistered) 27.06.2012 02:50

A news article on the US military today. Sexual predators raped and molested up to 19,000 female recruits at Lackland Air Force Base,  San Antonio, Texas. All by the drill instructors for years. The investigation is in full swing. Those predators include whites and blacks and Hispanics. RT, give us your report please. 

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