The situation in Afghanistan is “serious” and “deteriorating,” the top U.S. military officer said Sunday, warning that the Taliban insurgency has gotten more sophisticated while the Afghan people increasingly fear for their safety.
Adm. Mike Mullen would not say whether the fight would require more than the 68,000 troops the administration has committed, but expressed concern about falling public support for the war which President Obama has called one of “necessity.”
“This is the war we’re in,” Mullen said matter-of-factly, when asked about public perception of a conflict entering its ninth year.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the situation needs to be reversed in the next 12 to 18 months.
“I think it is serious and it is deteriorating,” Mullen said. “And I’ve said that over the last couple of years, that the Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated.”
He said the Taliban have gotten “much tougher” over the past couple years, and that the focus of the mission at this point is to provide security for the Afghan people.
Mullen insisted that the mission would not float in a state of “endless drift,” and said the president’s strategy was only beginning to be implemented.
“I recognize that we’ve been there over eight years,” he said. “But this is the first time we’ve really resourced a strategy on both the civilian and military sides. So in certain ways, we’re starting anew.”
……But amid the new strategy, public support is falling. July was the deadliest month to date for coalition forces, and a Washington Post-ABC News poll released last week showed 51 percent of people think the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting.
Lawmakers have said this is a sign Obama needs to strengthen his pitch to the American people and make crystal clear why he’s escalating the war.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/23/afghanistan-war-deteriorating-mullen-says/
I’ve been saying since THE ONE took office, that the war on Islamic fascism was his to lose, and it looks like he’s doing just that.
If 51% of the people polled in the survey don’t think winning the war in Afghanistan is “worth it”, there’s something obscenely wrong with that picture. But then, President Punchdrunk said “victory” in Afghanistan isn’t necessarily the United States’ goal.
Is it worth it? You bet. Are Americans willing to do what it takes? If they don’t want another 9/11 they had damned well better be. It’s the best way Islamic extremists and any other malefactor, will think twice about the worth of attacking the United States. To accomplish that will take more than just a piecemeal war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will take making William Tecumseh Sherman look like a Boy Scout. If you get my drift.
The war against Islamic zealots is too important to put on the back burner. Mark my words, if we don’t finish them off, there will be another catastrophic attack on America that will make 9/11 pale in comparison. Our borders leak like sieves, our immigration policies are lax, the TSA has a stupid hesitancy to profile, and we have slid back into complacency.
We are saddled with a socialist milksop in the White House who is rightly perceived as a pushover when it comes to protecting America and our interests.
Right now, terrorist organizations are taking advantage of Obama’s impotent leadership and waning public support for the war, to regroup.
If Obama has any shred of decency, he’ll just step aside and let the military make all the necessary decisions in this war. He’s got all he can handle right now destroying the U.S. economy.