The merits of the approach boil down to intelligence, diplomacy, and cooperation. There is no way the USA can guarantee cooperation between India and Pakistan. Kashmir is among the issues that have to be RESOLVED by diplomacy.
The tribal region of Pakistan has been a very difficult challenge. The late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was focused on the tribal region when she returned to run for President. She was gunned down by al Qaeda. We have witnessed the brutality of Pakistan's segregated society in the wonderful young woman named Malala Yousafzai (click here).
This region of the world has many, many problems. The expression, "You can lead a horse to water, but, you can't make it drink," comes to mind. Nation building doesn't work.
There are models, NOT THEORIES, that show how a Third World country attains a better economic strategy that moves the people from dependency to a motivation with a vision. Brazil has been able to move forward. BRIC countries. They have moved forward to embrace education, seek citizen quality of life and incentives to continue to have a vision.
These countries are still a danger to the USA. They have not moved to the point where they seek alliances with the USA in a sincere way. The world is a dangerous place. There is no magic.
The MISSION of the USA is to seek out countries that WANT to come out of the middle ages to modern times. Unfortunately, countries such as Pakistan believe they are safer with nuclear weapons. THAT IS NOTHING BUT POLITICS. That is also the politics of the extremists in Iran. The politicians know it is not an answer, but, they spend the money to have the people believe they are strong leaders.
If the USA is going to threaten these lesser countries they will seek weapons such as nuclear missiles. Threats are not the answer.
Osama bin Laden was a little tin god. He received money from his inheritance and hated the USA. Osama bin Laden is dead and no one has been able to replace him, not even his son although he likes to pretend it will happen.
The USA has enemies. That has been the case for a long time. It is time to seek peace and continue to protect from countries disinterested in civilization and from little tin gods.
I remind. The attacks against Lower Manhattan, Washington and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2017 was predicted by the CIA.
There was no failure in intelligence when September 11th occurred in 2001.
They are sister and brother? They like high maintenance lives, huh?The USA is on a war budget and Americans need a good health care system.Admiral Mullens identified the Haqqani Network. He took his complaints to Pakistan. It is the first time an American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs spoke truth to Pakistani power.
Admiral Mullens gave President Trump a leg up. It is up to him to continue that focus and bring Pakistan ENOUGH STABILITY to take on terrorists such as the Haqquani Network.
When I hear a President state he is going to seek a regional coalition to bring about improvement in the lives of the people while ending war; my gut reaction is SEATO was disbanded.
In September of 1954, the United States, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Pakistan formed the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization or SEATO.
SEATO lead to Vietnam. It was the impetus. President Kennedy was going to stop any USA war into Vietnam, but, he didn't live long enough to bring the advisors home.
...But the U.S. and the international community (click here) never followed through on their promise to help the Afghan government achieve real reform. The 2015 parliamentary elections have been delayed pending electoral reform that was never legislated. The lack of district elections, a virtual logistical impossibility, has impeded progress toward a constitutional convention because district representatives are required for a quorum.
Had the international community pushed for these reforms to take place in 2014, they could very likely have been achieved. A mood of hope and unity had suffused much of the country. But the international community mistook a lull for an equilibrium and stopped pushing for political reform. When factional rifts have erupted, the world has simply told Ghani and Abdullah to get along, believing that neither of their parties want to suffer the costs of withdrawing from the government. But that assumption may no longer hold: First Vice President Abdurrashid Dostum is spearheading a coalition of ethnic parties to oppose the current government, even as the Taliban and other local actors solidify their hold over the provinces.
Why undertake such a difficult set of tasks?
It would lend legitimacy to the government, a prerequisite for a peace agreement in a country long riven by political factionalism. The Afghan government must resolve the disputes with peaceable factions, such as Dostum's, then reach out to those already at war with it....
Those are real easy words to write. No strategy, no real reason to go forward because the people of Afghanistan are just as tired of the warring as the people of the USA. They don't like hospitals being bombed. Most Americans don't either. Then American politicians want to increase the USA presence, BUT, the people are turning back to the Taliban. No surprise there.
Are the Afghan children still using downed helicopters for playgrounds? It used to be Russian jets.
I don't believe the USA has the RIGHT to strategize Afghanistan. I believe the UN Security Council needs to bring clarity to the region and the way forward.
Trump wants a coalition. Sounds like the region needs to help bring about stability so the former leader of the Northern Alliance can actually lead an Afghan National military.
