War in Afghanistan. (flickr user Army.mil (cc: by))
Afghanistan is at the forefront of President Obama's foreign policy agenda. With General Stanley McChrystal calling for more troops on the one hand, and several prominent members of the Senate calling for a pull-out on the other, President Obama must walk a careful line. We speak to Charlie Sennott, executive editor of GlobalPost.
Comedian Baratunde Thurston on 'How to Be Black'
Today's Takeaway: What the Mortgage Settlement Means
Today's Takeaway: Focus on Violence Syria
In-Depth Look at the Situation in Syria
Today's Takeaway: Big Night for Rick Santorum
Some Combat Restrictions for Women Lifted
'Tebow Bill' May Allow Home-Schoolers to Play on High School Teams
Newly-Discovered Recordings Shed Light on a Young Malcolm X
Today's Takeaway: Multi-Billion Dollar Foreclosure Settlement Imminent
Is Our Constitution Out of Date?
The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with The BBC World Service, New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
Major funding provided by:
Comments [1]
Afghanistan,Autumn '09
(Part 1)
Goal:
To keep the Taliban from moving into Afghanistan. To deny the Taliban and Al Qaeda from re-establishing a nation-state to use as a planning and staging refuge for terrorist acts.
To allow the Afghan people to chose their own popular government.
Pitfalls:
If the US were to pull out of Afghanistan, the terrorist factions would soon take over the government by violent means.
The present government is unpopular; and holds office in spite of strong and plausible allegations that the election was fraudulent.
General Stanley McChrystal, the US military commander in Afghanistan, has warned the President that corruption in the Karzai governmennt is as big a threat as the Taliban.
The US had already beaten back the Taliban, in Afghanistan, in 2002-03; and then removed troops to allow the Taliban to recover, infiltrate, and to reinstall itself in that country. Thus we have switched roles from insurgent to counter-insurgent.
Leave a Comment
Register for your own account so you can vote on comments, save your favorites, and more. Learn more.
Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. We reserve the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting. By leaving a comment, you agree to New York Public Radio's Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use.