[Guardian
Unlimited, U.K.]
Outlook Afghanistan, Afghanistan
'Let Us Pray for
Afghanistan to Be the Next Iraq'
"Our Afghanistan was once
considered far more secure than Iraq … Sad to say, the situation in Afghanistan
looks ever-more like a nightmare, and there is no reason for optimism in sight.
So let is pray for a restoration of security and that Afghanistan will be the
next Iraq."
EDITORIAL
December 17, 2008
Afghanistan -
Outlook India - Home Page (English)
As Iraq is gets more secure
and the armed forces of that country acquire the capacity to deal independently
with that nation's difficulties and address the security challenges posed by
Iraq's feeble remnants of al-Qaeda, international troops deployed there are
moving toward ending their mission. Having installed a new system of governance
and developed new political and military approaches toward regional and global
issues, U.S. forces are preparing to leave. U.S. President-elect Barack Obama
has promised to withdraw all American troops in Iraq within sixteen months
after he takes office on January 20, 2009.
Since Iraq's former dictator
was toppled, Britain has had the second largest number of troops deployed
there. Britain's mission in Iraq is due to expire next year. During a surprise
visit to Baghdad on Wednesday by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, leaders of the
two countries said that British forces would complete their mission in the
first half of 2009. Brown is on his fourth visit to Iraq since taking office
last June, and came hot on the heels of George W. Bush's farewell visit.
Brown's arrival comes after Iraq's cabinet approved a bill calling for all
foreign troops except for Americans - whose presence is now governed by a
landmark U.S.-Iraq security deal - to pull out by the end of next July.
President Bush and Afghanistan President Hamid
Karzai hold a press conference at the Presidential
Palace in Kabul, Dec. 15.
Some British news agencies
report that the pullout is due to begin in March - exactly six years after the
invasion - if provincial elections set for the end of January go peacefully. British
commanders intended to reduce the number of troops to 2,500 earlier this year,
but conditions on the ground prevented them from doing so.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Our Afghanistan was once
considered far more secure than Iraq, where a year ago, an average of twenty
attacks took place every day. Sad to say, the situation in Afghanistan looks
ever-more like a nightmare, and there is no reason for optimism in sight.
So let is pray for a
restoration of security and that Afghanistan will be the next Iraq.
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
December 18, 9:15pm]
