Aljazeera English reviews Obama’s plans for Afghanistan and Pakistan and concludes that Obama is continuing Bush policies.
It’s déjà vu all over again here in Washington as the new administration escalates its Afghan war and expands the theater of operation into Pakistan, the establishment and the majority of the public opinion are marching to the drums of war, just as they did on the eve of the 2003 War on Iraq. The enthusiastic military is refreshing its war contingencies, the unquestioning media is stirring, and a complacent congress moves ahead with it’s so-called Peace Bill in support of the new AfPak stragety. And the pretext, well, it’s more of the same—politics of fear. Meanwhile, a serge of new attacks in Iraq demonstrates that the war and occupation there are not over, and come summer-time the Obama administration might be fighting not one, not two, but three wars that could push the greater Middle East, and indeed the Asian continent, towards further instability, chaos, and war.
AfPak is ground zero in a renewed and heightened game of geopolitics. There are serious Russian, Chinese, Indian, and Iranian interests in the region, making a US troop build-up all the more problematic. As the conversation demonstrates, there’s real concern in the Muslim world that Obama’s militaristic approach to AfPak could be setting the scene for major calamity.
Seymour Hersh’s bottom line is that the Obama administration is internally divided on how to deal with the resurgent Taliban in AfPak and does not appear to have an end game. Sey’s concern is that the US will default into the classic pattern of using more and more military force, which will turn more and more Afghans and Pakistanis toward the Taliban.
Take away: There is no way to win this war militarily.
h/t Juan Cole
Tags: afghanistan, afpak, aljazeera, Juan Cole, Obama, pakistan, seymour hersh
