Juan Cole on Obama & Afghanistan

It's a rather long article at Salon penned by Juan Cole, Obama is saying the wrong things about Afghanistan but it's one I really recommend reading.

The last paragraph:

Before he jumps into Afghanistan with both feet, Obama would be well advised to consult with another group of officers. They are the veterans of the Russian campaign in Afghanistan. Russian officers caution that Afghans cannot be conquered, as the Soviets attempted to do in the 1980s with nearly twice as many troops as NATO and the U.S. now have in the country, and with three times the number of Afghan troops as Karzai can deploy. Afghanistan never fell to the British or Russian empires at the height of the age of colonialism. Conquering the tribal forces of a vast, rugged, thinly populated country proved beyond their powers. It may also well prove beyond the powers even of the energetic and charismatic Obama. In Iraq, he is listening to what the Iraqis want. In Pakistan, he is simply dictating policy in a somewhat bellicose fashion, and ignoring the wishes of those moderate parties whose election he lauded last February.

I really don't think many of those clamoring for our troops to be removed from Iraq in a 16 month time table realize that one of the reasons for this is so that more troops can be sent to Afghanistan, where it's clear, more Americans will die and part of the reason why we have not "won" there is not related to troop strength. It's been suggested that our presence there has actually increased the insurgency:

American and NATO search-and-destroy missions alienate the local population and fuel, rather than quench, the insurgency. Resentment over U.S. airstrikes on innocent civilians and wedding parties is growing. Brazen attacks on U.S. forward bases and on institutions such as the prison in the southern city of Kandahar are becoming more frequent.

What I find especially troubling is that Afghanistan is supposed to be NATO:

NATO’s role is a key part of the Afghanistan Compact, a five-year plan between the government of Afghanistan and the international community, which sets goals relating to the security, governance and economic development of the country.

Yet, when you hear Obama talk about this, there is very little mention that this is supposed to be an alliance and not Iraq...