A suicide bomber (or three, depending on who you believe in these things) blew himself up inside the Afghan National Ministry of Information and Culture, killing two; the attack inside a government facility in the increasingly insecure capital explains Karzai's government's desire to reach out to the Taliban and strike some kind of deal. Has NATO failed, or is it close to? (If not, what clearer indication of imminent strategic failure can there be - short of, of course, the actual collapse of the "national" government, whose authority barely escapes Kabul anyway?)
Obama's strategy of pouring more troops into Afghanistan, and accelerating the conflict with an exasperated Pakistani government, caught between local militants and NATO forces that do not respect international borders, will be a serious failure as well. Even when such action is deemed militarily necessary, little thought is given to how it will be received, its long-term consequences (including military consequences), as well as how talking about it -- Senator Obama seems not to understand this with respect to his awkwardly combative and frankly irresponsible "tough talk" about Pakistan -- hurts more than helps. (Threatening conflict to win an election? Hmm.)
The problems facing the broader region are not ones that can be solved by the addition of more forces, not to mention that any addition of forces in Afghanistan may destabilize "gains" in Iraq -- and how few there have been, from a national security perspective (McCain strangely brags of the success of the surge, not noticing that in the process we have empowered a strongly pro-Iranian Iraqi government, making me think he is either insincere on this issue or uninformed as to its broad outlines) -- and will continue to suck money that we cannot afford to spend. The solution must be overwhelmingly diplomatic, multilateral and multinational, involving Russia, India, Iran, Pakistan and our NATO allies, as well as (with respect to Iraq) Arab nations in the region and Turkey. There's no other choice.
Why don't we have leaders who are willing to say that?
A set of bomb blasts in northeastern India have killed nearly 70: The terrorism is part of a broader wave of attacks and strikes not just in Assam but throughout India, which are variously linked to radical Islamist, Hindu and Maoist groups. In other words, no clear culprit -- yet.
May God give patience and serenity to those who have lost loved ones; may He stop those who set out to do harm and may He help us resolve our conflicts with peace and patience instead of violence and anger.
I think that, as a politician, McCain is downplaying the stronger Iran ties, or is more likely aware of them and thus agitating more threats towards Iran. Like a politician, he's trying to focus more on the allegedly-lower death rate, which he views as a strength and downplay any weaknesses he has.
Posted by: Sulayman | 02 November 2008 at 04:34 PM