Afghan CT operations will be impossible after 2014.

" ... observers say Karzai’s growing demands concerning U.S. military behavior could soon force commanders to reconsider their post-2014 mission. As part of the security agreement, which allows for a total of 15,000 foreign troops to remain in Afghanistan, the U.S. military also plans to conduct a limited number of counter­terrorism missions in the country. “If he represents what the majority of Afghans want, it’s going to be hard to maintain those kind of missions,” said Robert G. Loftis, a professor at Boston University and a former diplomat who led the George W. Bush administration’s initial effort to reach a status-of-forces agreement with Iraq in 2008. “He’s playing a dangerous game here, and he may convince, if not the [Obama] administration, the American public, ‘Hey, why are we doing this?’ ”"  Washingtonpost

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 Isn't it obvious that the only Afghans who want the US to keep troops in their country after 2014 are those who are enemies of the Taliban in the ongoing civil war?  Isn't it obvious? 

 Loftis is correct.  it will be impossible to conduct CT operations in an environment in which there must be; no accidental Afghan civilian casualties, no entry of Afghan residences, no operations in built up areas.

If that is so, why would be staying?  the kleptocrats in Kabul want us to stay to protect them and their money.

 Start leaving now!  pl    

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/coalition-apologizes-for-killing-afghan-child-karzai-warns-security-deal-in-jeopardy/2013/11/29/f73d2b06-58ed-11e3-8304-caf30787c0a9_story.html

Comments

[Bandolero]

I just want to brng you to notice this message from Xinhua today:

Russia to maintain stability in Afghanistan: Medvedev

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that his country is ready to work with other member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to guard peace and stability in Afghanistan.

...

Source:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-11/30/c_132929832.htm

Looks like good timing to me.

[turcopolier]

bandolero

That sounds like a good solution. Whatever else you may say of them the Chinese are unlikely to tolerate abuse of women and other medieval nonsense. In any event the Afghans deserve a Sinorussian co-dominium, and this would get us out of the damned place. pl

[FB Ali]

It isn't only the kleptocrats in Kabul who want the US to stay, it is also the kleptocrats in Washington, and the network of contractors who feed at this trough.

[Norbert M Salamon]

and where is Falkenberg {??] to save the co-dominion? or the Moties?

[turcopolier]

nms

Yup. We need Falkenberg's legion. pl

[turcopolier]

FB Ali

Absolutely, the thieves extend far and wide. pl

[Matt J.]

Or Lt Col. Anton Vereshchagin's 1st Battalion, 35th Imperial Infantry (Rifle). Check out Robert Frezza's trilogy (Small Colonial War, Fire in a Faraway Place (the best) & Cains Land), better than Pournelle's series (IMO).

[bth]

Col. if we stop financially supporting the central government of Afghanistan, will it collapse?

[turcopolier]

bth

Perhaps. Does it matter? pl

[Fred]

Why should we care? What the hell do they do for us?

[bth]

Yes it might especially if we felt we needed an airfield and a base of operations in the region, perhaps in the northern areas should the central government become hostile or dysfunctional.

[turcopolier]

bth

IMO there is nothing in Afghanistan that we need enough to maintain basing there. CT operations should be run from outside Afghanistan using clandestine methods, police and intelligence liaison, diplomacy that seeks foreign state cooperation in these matters and a continuation of air attacks on specific targets. pl

[confusedponderer]

"diplomacy that seeks foreign state cooperation in these matters " i.e. Pakistan, the three Stans, and, Iran.

I wonder, is there enough foresight in DC for that not to be an accident?

[turcopolier]

CP

I would include many more countries in that list. pl

[Babak Makkinejad]

I seriously doubt that either China or Russia will do anything than building a cordone sanitaire around the relevant borders with Afghanistan.

They might elect to fund this or that militia to keep harm away from them.

But it is inconceivable for me to consider them taking on more than that.

There is nothing in it for them.