You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Afghanistan
Afghan 'zero option' raised as Karzai set for Obama
2013-01-09
[BBC.CO.UK] The White House has said for the first time it is possible that no US troops will remain in Afghanistan past 2014, as President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
 arrived in Washington for talks with Barack Obama
If you have a small business, you didn't build that...
Ben Rhodes, a top US security official, told news hounds the administration was still considering a range of options.

Mr Karzai's three-day trip will include crucial talks with Mr Obama and other officials, but no final decision.

The Afghan president wants US troops out of Afghan towns and villages.

Correspondents says the meeting comes as relations between the two countries have been more fractious than usual.
Posted by:Fred

#7  See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Indian Express = MEMRI] TEHRIK-E-TALIBAN PAKISTAN [aka TTP] PLEDGE TO FIGHT IN KASHMIR [War of Liberation from India], SHARIA IN INDIA.

TTP Leader Wali-ur-Rehman whom also vows to take the fight to Pakistan's + Islam's enemies in their own land.

Is the TTP threatening to wage Jihad/Insurgency in India after 2014 - VICTORY IN AFPAK = MORE VICTORY OUTSIDE OF AFPAK???

DPK POSTER = opined that he would like to be first to run for President of the SHARIA REPUBLIC OF THE UNITED STATES.

* SAME > 2014 WILL BRING NO PEACE IN THE WORLD ... | [PKSecurity. blogspot] NATIONAL SECURITY: SOUTH ASIA WILL REMAIN VOLATILE EVEN AFTER 2014.

* SAME > [WND.com] IRAN'S NUCLEAR BOMB PROGRAM COMPLETE, thanks to Iran's covert collusion wid Russia + DPRK as per Source widin IRGC.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2013-01-09 23:13  

#6  SPECOPS utility aside, IMO the only rationale for such an unrealistic, sure-to-fail option is that the US intends to provide exorbitantly massive econ + mil assistance to Kabul in lieu of a significant ground combat or advisory presence.

IOW, THE NEW BAMMER-BOEHNER "FISCAL CLIFF DEAL" IS ALL BUT ABSOLUT WORTHLESS AS THE BAMMER WILL NEED TO INITIATE NEW "QES" + "STIMULUS" SPENDING TO OFFSET THE LACK OF US OR US-NATO GROUND TROOPS. MSM-Net Artics denoting how the Bammer-Boehner deal would add up to US$4.0Trilyuhn to the US Debt Burden or Deficits was PREMATURE - IT WILL BE TIMES THE US$4.0TRILYUHN.

No longer US$20.0Trilyuhn Debt [projected] for the US, but US$22.0-25.0Trilyuhn by the time the Bammer leaves office in January 2017???

Its either that or see Afghanistan, + perhaps even Pakistan, fall to the Taliban.

* E.G. CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > EXIT ANXIETIES: AS FOREIGN TROOPS LEAVE AFGHANS FEAR ANOTHER CIVIL WAR.

* WORLD NEWS > US SENATOR: "FISCAL CLIFF" DEAL WILL ADD US$4.0TRILYUHN TO DEFICITS.

versus

* TOPIX > [WAPO] A PUSH FOR ONLY 2,500 US TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN.

versus

* TOPIX > TALIBAN SAY US WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN AKIN TO ITS DEFEAT IN THE VIETNAM WAR.

Afghan "Zero Option" = POTUS Nixon's "de-Americanization/Vietnamization" of war in Vietnam, but not end US Committment to existentially protect RSVN = Afghanistan???
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2013-01-09 21:49  

#5  Get it over with already. Spending more blood and treasure in that hell-hole at this point is just stupid.
Posted by: remoteman   2013-01-09 14:29  

#4  How can he 'join' something he has always been a part of?
Posted by: CrazyFool   2013-01-09 13:05  

#3  Just make sure somebody kicks him off the skid of the last chopper out.
Posted by: tu3031   2013-01-09 11:55  

#2  If the US is still providing his security, be sure his security detail is the first group out.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia   2013-01-09 09:20  

#1  Looks like Karzai has joined the taliban.
Posted by: Spot   2013-01-09 07:56  

00:00