Defense Sec. Gates rewrites Iraq war narrative, says wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not linked
Excerpted from the AP wire:
“Gates for the first time publicly linked Iraq to what lay behind Europe’s general skepticism about fighting in Afghanistan. ‘From our standpoint, I worry that for many Europeans the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan are confused. . . . I think they combine the two,’ he added. ‘Many of them I think have a problem with our involvement in Iraq and project that to Afghanistan and don’t understand the very different -- for them -- very different kind of threat’ posed by al-Qaida in Afghanistan, as opposed to the militant group in Iraq that goes by the same name and is thought to be led by foreign terrorists linked to al-Qaida”
P.S., Five years of war and still the enemy is "thought to be led by...."
1 comment:
The US decided to attack Afghanistan because taleban were giving shelter to the main offender in 9/11 attacks (official reason) and NATO followed because of the treaty, mutual assistance if one member is attacked. Today, more than six years after, the main offender is still at large, taleban no longer rule the country, and the situation is really different. Who are we fighting in Afghanistan? Who are the "new taleban"? Is there remnants of terrorists cells in the country?
The reality today, as in the last twenty years, is that Pakistan is playing the game in Afghanistan, they created the first taleban, supported them up until the end of 2001, and still most of the terrorists are operating from Pakistan, where they heva shelters provided by pakistanese extremists.
The occupation of Afghanistan is useless, and afghans don't understand it. There is no improvement in the country, since most of the help didn't reach the people, because of disinterest from donors and corruption in the country.
The withdrawal of foreign troops is the first goal to achieve in Afghanistan, and another policy to help the country being rebuild is another. But the main goal is to stop pakistanese interference in Afghanistan. This is the most difficult part, since we support a dictator linked with extremists, and it seems there is no other solutions...
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