Word: afghanistans
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...Riedel warned that if the presidential election isn't seen as legitimate, it could lead to the collapse of the central Afghan government. "If the government of Afghanistan now goes into free fall - something like the South Vietnamese governments of the 1960s - then all the troops in the world really aren't going to matter," Riedel said. "If we don't have a government we can point to that has some basis of legitimacy in the country, the best generals, the best strategy, isn't going to help turn it around...
...While McChrystal's redeployed and reinforced troops appear to be making progress in various parts of Afghanistan, there remain staggering challenges. The key southern city of Kandahar - long the capital of Taliban might - appears increasingly under the sway of the insurgency. There are widespread reports of vote fraud in the Aug. 20 presidential election in which incumbent Hamid Karzai claims to be leading. What's more, military and foreign-policy experts - some of whom have been advising McChrystal - say both the U.S. military and civilian presence is inadequate. (See pictures of the new offensive in Afghanistan...
...Anthony Cordesman, a military expert who has been advising McChrystal, mentioned Vietnam in their remarks to an audience at the Brookings Institution last week. That's a ghost that strikes fear into the heart of many Democrats, who fear Obama may be treading down the same path in Afghanistan that President Johnson followed to political ruin - for him and his party - in Vietnam. "What I found, being in Afghanistan, was all too familiar of problems not only in Iraq but in Vietnam years ago," Cordesman said. "We take the insurgency, and we define it in terms of tactical clashes rather...
...administrative or logistical tasks - perhaps as many as 10,000 - could be replaced with trigger pullers. That would give McChrystal more firepower without boosting troop levels. And the Army is expected to issue contracts before year's end to private firms to guard 50 or more U.S. bases in Afghanistan and the convoys that supply them, work currently being done by troops. "The number of personnel required at each location will be based on prior requirements," the solicitation reads, "and may be modified or increased dependent upon mission needs." Just like the real Army...
...pictures of Afghanistan's dangerous Korengal Valley...