Nato urged to allow partition of Afghanistan
Divide and Rule...Is this the answer ?
I Don't think so !
Afghanistan should be allowed to partition along ethnic lines by pulling back Nato forces and acknowledging that the Taliban will not be defeated in their heartland, a senior former American national security adviser has warned.
Robert Blackwill, who was Condolezza Rice's deputy as National Security Adviser in 2003 to 2004, will use a speech at the International Institute of Strategic Studies think tank in London on Monday to call on President Barack Obama to make drastratic changes in the war's objectives.
He told The Daily Telegraph that the surge of forces launched last year to stabilise Afghanistan was "high likely" to fail and that the death toll in the conflict was too high a price to pay.
"The Taliban are winning, we are losing," he said. "They have high morale and want to continue the insurgency. Plan A is going to fail. We need a Plan B
"Let the Taliban control the Pashtun south and east, the American and allied price for preventing that is far too high."
Mr Blackwill said that there had been a decade of "innumerable errors" in the Western approach to Afghanistan. Most notably American policy shifted after the atttacks on September 11, 2001 from expelling al Qaeda from its Afghan sanctuaries to crushing the Taliban and installing a democratic government in Kabul.
The result was that America now had 1,000 soldiers deployed for every one of the estimated 100 al Qaeda operatives now believed to be based in Afghanistan and was hemorraging $100 billion a year on the conflict.
Source: The Telegraph
"Kill em'all, let God sort 'em out"
Afghanistan has always been called "the graveyard of empires".It all started with 'The Great Game' back in the 18th century when the Soviets and the English empires tried to have strategic supremacy in Central Asia.They all have failed.Nato should learn lessons from the past.They will never succeed in Afghanistan.
We could have a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan... Then I could go and work there :O)
a new Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact? :(
afghanistan could be a rich nation if america helps them with the technology to mine and enrich lithium. there is plenty of it in its soil. exporting lithium could be the main source of revenue to the state as opium is mostly in the hands of warlords.
once the state is economically strong, it can deal better with internal security issues.
imperialists are at work again divide and conqueror ,this is how they make sure they survive and the rest of the world are always busy at war so they sell them weapons and use their natural resources people don't learn and allow this happen
Most notably American policy shifted after the attacks on September 11, 2001 from expelling al Qaeda from its Afghan sanctuaries to crushing the Taliban and installing a democratic government in Kabul.
Afghanistan has two major ethnic groups; Pashtuns and Farsi speakers. The history of Afghanistan shows that no outsider could succeed to rule them ever. It is better to let them rule their selves but presently the main problem is Al Qaida and Taliban influence there.
Afghanis should rule Afghanistan but not Al Qaida and Taliban.
Hamid Karzai is a controversial president and the majority of Afghan nation will not accept him. The best way will be to let Taliban group leave fighting, join them in talks including all ethnic groups in Afghanistan and make an agreement for a free and fair election to chose members from each and every ethnic group i.e Pashto and Farsi speakers. Pakistan can play an important role in this matter because there is a big number of Pashtuns in Pakistan and they have the same culture as Afghan Pashtuns. Therefore, the elders of Pashtuns can talk to each other, they call it Jirga. These matters can be resolved with talks, not with fighting, as it is proved since more than a decade of heavy fighting without any fruitful result.
how come partitioning of afghanistan is being considered in america...is it their call?
all they need to do is to leave them asap and let karzai tackle the internal security issues etc.