[La Razon, Bolivia]
Le Figaro, France
Mr. Obama's Afghanistan
Gamble Corners Europe
"The
European allies of NATO were demanding a strategy for getting out of
Afghanistan. … Obama has taken them at their word. If they intend to preserve relations
with Washington, it will now be harder to refuse contributions to an effort
presented as limited in duration."
By Pierre Rousselin
Translated By Pascaline Jay
December 3, 2009
France - Le Figaro - Original Article (France)
Barack Obama wants to recreate
in Afghanistan what more or less succeeded in Iraq. The announced 30,000-man reinforcement
is supposed to begin withdrawing by July 2011. It's a strategy that Robert
Gates and General Petraeus put in place in Bagdad for George W. Bush in January
2007.
In his Tuesday night speech,
the American president radically reduced the expectations he established last
March during his first address on Afghanistan. The goal is no longer to build a
stable state, politically as well as economically, but to prepare for the withdrawal
of American and foreign troops.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
By setting a date for an
early withdrawal (July 2011), the president reassures Democrats who are quite
reticent about what they see as a new Vietnam and puts pressure on President
Hamid Karzai hoping it will spur him to take responsibility for better
governance and training the Afghan army.
He's taking a big risk: He
has encouraged the Taliban to adapt their strategy - military and political - based
on the scheduled departure of foreign troops. Eighteen months pass very
quickly. All of the players, first in line being the government in Kabul, will
now determine what to so based on their conception of the situation in July 2011.
Politically, Obama had little
choice, given the situation in the United States. His gamble isn’t lost yet. The
European allies of NATO were demanding a strategy for getting out of
Afghanistan and a conference has been scheduled for the purpose in London at
the end of January. Obama has taken them at their word. If they intend to
preserve their relations with Washington, it will now be harder to refuse contributions
to an effort presented as limited in duration.
SEE ALSO ON THIS:
Rceczpospolita, Poland:
Afghanistan: Poland Should Remain 'Until the End'
Frontier Post, Pakistan:
CIA's Taliban Proxies Will Never Snatch Pakistan's Nukes!
La Stampa, Italy:
Obama Must Finish Bush's Work or 'Marginalize' the West
DNA, France:
To America or France,
Sarkozy Must
Break His Commitment
Le Monde, France:
Nicolas Sarkozy's 'Neither-Nor' on the Afghan Surge
Berliner Zeitung, Germany:
Obama's Hope is All
Afghanistan Has Left
Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Russia:
NATO Still 'Clueless' About What to Do Next
Liberation, France:
Obama's Hesitation on Afghanistan May Cost Him Dearly
The Nation, Pakistan :
Obama's Speech:
'Servility' Toward
U.S. Has its Limits
The Frontier Post, Pakistan:
America Reveals Dark Side of the Human Intellect
Asia Times, Hong Kong:
China Maps
End to the Afghanistan War
Gazeta, Russia:
U.S. and Russia Share Responsibility for 'Afghan Anthill'
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Posted by WORLDMEETS.US, Dec. 15, 4:19am
