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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bearcatbob who wrote (214829)	8/7/2007 2:05:37 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793999

the future of Afghanistan is secure. The problem with the place is that it has little or nothing to offer. It is trying to abolish Opium to keep us happy, instead of taking over part of the legitimate morphine market from Turkey and India. The only other thing it has to offer is geography. Pipelines for oil and gas can cross it. The key leadership are a bunch of westernized exiles who can't walk the streets of Kabul without foreign guards. They have no strong tribal roots. The population is the south are ruled by Taliban types out of Waziristan. The tribes in the north are oriented toward Iran. So if we leave, they probably end up being run by a group of Religious fanatics again. Which means we are stuck there for decades. Not a pretty picture.

To: Bearcatbob who wrote (214829)	8/7/2007 7:59:00 AM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793999

Finishing the job to them likely means declaring Osama's not here and leaving asap. For the record, there are a little over 31K troops (at least thats how many were there last year) - a little over half are American, 8K are British, 1K French. Americans, Brits, Canadians, Australians, Polish do all the fighting. The French, Germans and rest stay in Kabul far from any action. The National Afghan Army has about 35K troops. Very small footprint for such a sizeable country and population.