Word: trooped
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...While the details of their trip have been kept secret (indeed, the Obama campaign has refused to even publicly confirm that he is going), Obama's choice of traveling companions is telling. Both Hagel and Reed have been vocal advocates for troop withdrawal, though they split over the initial vote to authorize President Bush to use military force to oust Saddam Hussein, with Reed opposing the invasion and Hagel supporting it. Both carry enormous influence on military issues on Capitol Hill and have strong ties to the Pentagon. Obama's invitation of Hagel is also meant to send a signal...
...trip comes at a time when Obama's Iraq stance is being criticized from both ends of the political spectrum. Republicans say the fact-finding trip is merely for show, given Obama's commitment to troop withdrawal, which he repeated in a speech July 15. McCain noted that Obama gave the speech about his plans for Iraq and Afghanistan "before he has even left, before he has talked to General Petraeus, before he has seen the progress in Iraq, and before he has set foot in Afghanistan for the first time. In my experience, fact-finding missions usually work best...
Getting Out of the Way So what exactly should we do about Afghanistan now? First, the West should not increase troop numbers. In time, NATO allies, such as Germany and Holland, will probably want to draw down their numbers, and they should be allowed to do so. We face pressing challenges elsewhere. If we are worried about terrorism, Pakistan is more important than Afghanistan; if we are worried about regional stability, then Egypt, Iran or even Lebanon is more important; if we are worried about poverty, Africa is more important. A troop increase is likely to inflame Afghan nationalism because...
...Taliban: a mass assault on a jail freed hundreds of prisoners, and a suicide bombing outside the Indian embassy on July 7 killed 40 and injured over 100. Many of these assaults are planned and supported from safe havens across the border in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Western troop casualties are climbing; the last two months exceeded the monthly death toll in Iraq. On July 13, nine U.S. soldiers were killed when Taliban fighters swarmed over their base in the eastern province of Kunar - the worst attack in three years...
...nation. It would involve a very long-term policy of containment and management, and it may never lead to a clear victory or exit. But unlike abandoning Afghanistan entirely, as we did in 1990, it would not leave a vacuum filled by dangerous neighbors. And unlike a policy of troop increases, this strategy would be less costly, more popular with voters, more sustainable in the long term, less of a distraction from other global priorities and less likely to alienate Afghan nationalists and undermine the Afghan state...