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| Afghanistan |
| Russia slams NATO withdrawal plans from Afghanistan, calls them 'artificial' |
| 2012-04-20 |
| Summarizing: The Afghan adventure brought down the Soviet Empire, why shouldn't it be allowed to bring down the US empire? Russia's foreign minister sharply criticized NATO's plan to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan by 2014, saying Thursday that coalition troops should remain in the country until Afghan government forces are capable of ensuring security. "As long as Afghanistan is not able to ensure by itself the security in the country, the artificial timelines of withdrawal are not correct and they should not be set," Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. NATO plans to hand over lead responsibility for the war against the Taliban to the Afghan army and police by the middle of next year, then withdraw its troops by the end of 2014. The alliance already has started drawing down its forces, which reached a peak of about 140,000 last year. NATO leaders say that Afghan forces are improving rapidly and will be able to counter Taliban guerrillas after 2014. But critics have pointed to widespread drug use and the high desertion rate among government forces as signs that it remains unprepared to handle the insurgents. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the alliance's secretary general, responded to Lavrov's criticism by saying the Afghan government has agreed with the withdrawal schedule, and that it is "definitely not artificial." He also urged Russia, China and other non-NATO countries to help fund the post-2014 Afghan armed forces. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #6 The Russians like us to keep dying there so we can keep a lid on the problems on their border. Besides, they greatly enjoy criticizing us - why not have the best of both worlds? |
| Posted by: gromky 2012-04-20 15:58 |
| #5 Well, Russia.. we are kind of playing tit for tat too. Whats up with Georgia? |
| Posted by: newc 2012-04-20 11:16 |
| #4 Afghanistan, like Vietnam, damaged the home country because the draft was used and then those unwilling soldiers rotated back injured or dead to a nation that swathe loss as pointless. The us war in Ag Aghanistan has been different because we have professional volunteers. It the feeling of pointlessness is starting to dominate. |
| Posted by: Rjschwarz 2012-04-20 10:29 |
| #3 Perhaps we should build a nice wall, install lots of checkpoints, wire, mines, and towers. We could shoot anybody who tries to leave. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2012-04-20 05:55 |
| #2 I thourght they didnt want the US in their backyard. Stay for a few more years till you go bankrupt like us mentality. |
| Posted by: Gruth McGurque5303 2012-04-20 05:38 |
| #1 OTOH CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > NATO HEAD ASKS CHINA, RUSSIA TO HELP FUND AFGHAN FORCES, after 2014. ARTIC = US calculates Afghanistan's Security forces will require approxi US$4.0Bilyuhn per annum, + would like its NATO/Coalition Allies to contribute up to US$1.3Bilyuhn [EUR$1.0Bilyuhn]annually. WEHELL, SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SGT. CARTER, ONCE AGAIN ITS ONLY THE UK THATS WILLING TO PAY UP, BUT CAN ONLY GIVE $110.0MILYUHN, N-O-T $1.3BILYUHN. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-04-20 01:56 |