Word: afghanistanism
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...Even the E.U.'s reconstruction efforts have fallen short. Europe has committed $12 billion in aid to Afghanistan over the past eight years to help projects like rural development, governance, health, mine removal and human rights. But it is still struggling to deliver the 400 police trainers it committed to deliver years ago. "More troops are not the solution. The highest priority is not military, but civil development," says Thijs Berman, a Dutch member in the European Parliament and head of its Afghanistan delegation. He says the best way the international community can help is to fight corruption...
...officials will get to hear European concerns over the next few days in a series of key meetings on Afghanistan. Hillary Clinton will be in Brussels to secure commitments from governments at a meeting of Foreign Ministers on Thursday and Friday. Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan was in Brussels Wednesday to meet key E.U. officials. And military officers will also meet in the southern Belgian town of Mons on Dec. 7 to discuss the mission's resources. They should all lower expectations about how much Europe is willing to contribute...
...long-awaited strategy speech for Afghanistan, President Barack Obama clearly and forcibly repeated his objectives from his original plan in March - denying al-Qaeda a safe haven and reversing Taliban momentum. But he added one detail that stunned many Afghans. All this would be achieved within 18 months, at which point, it is assumed, the Afghan government would be able to stand on its own and the Afghan security forces - who are a far cry from the disciplined rows of uniformed cadets who faced Obama on Tuesday evening - would be able to take on the job of securing the battle...
...month timeline as a signal that they should continue to hedge their bets and support the Afghan Taliban in the tribal areas along the border in order to foil a much feared expansion of Indian influence on their northwestern flank. At the moment U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan believe they can continue the battle despite Pakistan's tolerance of the Afghan Taliban leadership within its borders. Should Pakistani policy move toward active aid and support, however, the task of defeating the Afghan insurgency would become impossibly difficult. (See Europe's response to the call for more troops...
Obama's statement that he would not pursue nation-building, though most likely tailored for his domestic audience, appeared to Afghans as little more than a commitment for greater military involvement to the detriment of development. "Sending in more troops is not a bad idea," says Abdul Jabar Sabit, Afghanistan's former attorney general. "But it is not the remedy for a deteriorating situation." If anything, he points out, a military surge should be used only after there is a government in place that is worth protecting. If Afghans are not committed to their government, if they don't believe...