Normally engaged with Pentagon officials, Charlie Rose isn’t used to seeing the opposite view of Afghanistan. Dexter Filkins and Ahmed Rashid went easy on him too.
Their accounts of the Pentagon and Taliban’s strategy largely match our recent analysis.
Rise is out of his league as usual.
ReplyDeleteFilkins " We are killing a lot of people, we are just not building anything."
I agree with Rashid that a deal "peace with honor" will be made.
I think Rashid has it exactly right on Taliban negotiations: the old-guard is open to power sharing as a means of gaining power post-US (whenever that actually is), while the new guard is more AQ-influenced. Since the turnover from Special Forces raids is largely attributed to this development, the Pentagon could be intentionally killing a deal to stay longer. Just like Rashid said - negotiations need Pentagon and CIA support, which Obama and Hillary don't have.
ReplyDeleteOH WOW MAN!!!!
ReplyDelete"Killing a deal to stay longer"
Perfect.
Exactly this was taken out of O's hands long ago.
He probably never even had a grasp on it in the first place.