Word: iraq
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Before the Obama Administration assumes that General Petraeus' track record in Iraq is transferable to Afghanistan, it should reflect more on a critical U.S. mistake in Vietnam. Much of the reason for the U.S. failure there can be traced to the assumption that General Edward Lansdale's successful approach to defeating the Philippine Huk insurgency would also work in Vietnam...
...know what roles Muslims should play in our military, but perhaps counseling veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan should not be one of them. Fair or not, I would not have wanted to talk to an Army psychiatrist of Vietnamese descent when I came home from Vietnam...
...Despite Bush's blunders in Iraq and elsewhere, many Indians welcomed his embrace, which strengthened ties to an unprecedented degree after decades of Cold War estrangement. Prime Minister Singh faced opposition at home from politicians skeptical of closer relations with the U.S. - his government was almost deposed by parties of the left protesting a nuclear-technology deal he concluded with the Bush Administration. But Singh staked his political reputation on the growing relationship. "Under Bush, India was being encouraged to be an Asian power," says Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research, a New Delhi...
...Afghan Security Forces Can Be Trained to Take Over the Mission The centerpiece of Obama's exit strategy is the training of Afghan security forces to take responsibility for fighting the Taliban, just as Iraqi forces have taken charge of security in Iraq. But Afghanistan is nothing like Iraq, and training may not be the decisive issue: although the U.S. has officially trained 94,000 Afghan soldiers, there's no sign of an effective Afghan security force capable of fighting the Taliban. Desertion rates are high - 1 in 4 soldiers trained last year, by some accounts...
...Tehran certainly has the tools to make trouble. The Quds Force, an élite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was able to stir up sectarian tension in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein by helping arm and finance the Shi'ite militias that first fought against the U.S.-led coalition and then conducting a campaign of violence against Sunni Iraqis. The commander of the Quds Force, Brigadier General Qassem Suleimani, is also credited with reining in the Shi'ite militias in 2007 - a key factor in helping the U.S. surge strategy succeed...