Word: pakistan
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...Pressure the Locals to Do Their Part? The Administration plans on creating "benchmarks" for Afghanistan and Pakistan to meet in order to retain the commitment of U.S. troops and money to the conflict. But long-standing corruption and incompetence can't be quickly eradicated. "The Pakistani and Afghan governments are both next to useless when it comes to this issue," Democratic Representative Dave Obey of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, tells TIME. So look for fairly elastic benchmarks, which will only please those who are required to meet them...
...Since then, we have made progress on some important objectives. High-ranking al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders have been killed, and we have stepped up the pressure on al-Qaeda worldwide. In Pakistan, that nation's army has gone on its largest offensive in years. In Afghanistan, we and our allies prevented the Taliban from stopping a presidential election, and - although it was marred by fraud - that election produced a government that is consistent with Afghanistan's laws and constitution...
...while we have achieved hard-earned milestones in Iraq, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated. After escaping across the border into Pakistan in 2001 and 2002, al-Qaeda's leadership established a safe haven there. Although a legitimate government was elected by the Afghan people, it has been hampered by corruption, the drug trade, an underdeveloped economy and insufficient security forces. Over the last several years, the Taliban has maintained common cause with al-Qaeda, as they both seek an overthrow of the Afghan government. Gradually, the Taliban has begun to take control over swaths of Afghanistan while engaging...
...Taliban, but these reinforcements did not arrive. That's why, shortly after taking office, I approved a long-standing request for more troops. After consultations with our allies, I then announced a strategy recognizing the fundamental connection between our war effort in Afghanistan and the extremist safe havens in Pakistan. I set a goal that was narrowly defined as disrupting, dismantling and defeating al-Qaeda and its extremist allies, and pledged to better coordinate our military and civilian effort...
...Until now, the Administration has made its case for a troop increase by focusing on narrow national-security aims: deterring another terrorist attack against the U.S., denying al-Qaeda a safe haven and preventing further destabilization in Pakistan. That approach reflects the realist bent of much of the Obama team, which believes that foreign policy should be guided more by interests than by ideals. There are two problems, however, with trying to sell a troop surge solely on national-security grounds. The first is that it is almost impossible to prove that sending more troops to Afghanistan will make Americans...