Monday, January 27, 2014
At last! A real reason why we are in Afghanistan
And why everybody involved in shooting or blowing things up wants to stay there even though they have shown no usable skills for winning.
The risk that President Obama may be forced to pull all American troops out of Afghanistan by the end of the year has set off concerns inside the American intelligence agencies that they could lose their air bases used for drone strikes against Al Qaeda in Pakistan and for responding to a nuclear crisis in the region.They know they can't win, but as long as they can stay, they can play with their big old blow things up toys. If we could fly our drones and blow up wedding parties from another base outside Afghanistan we probably would have left years ago.
Until now, the debate here and in Kabul about the size and duration of an American-led allied force in Afghanistan after 2014 had focused on that country’s long-term security. But these new concerns also reflect how troop levels in Afghanistan directly affect long-term American security interests in neighboring Pakistan, according to administration, military and intelligence officials.
If Mr. Obama ultimately withdrew all American troops from Afghanistan, the C.I.A.’s drone bases in the country would have to be closed, according to administration officials, because it could no longer be protected.
Their concern is that the nearest alternative bases are too far away for drones to reach the mountainous territory in Pakistan where the remnants of Al Qaeda’s central command are hiding. Those bases would also be too distant to monitor and respond as quickly if there was a crisis involving missing nuclear material or weapons from the arsenals and related facilities in Pakistan and India.
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