– STRATIGIC STALEMATE IN AFGHANISTAN

On Friday 03/20/2009, UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has been attending a summit in Brussels, where he and other EU ministers discussed a plan to send more police to train local officers in Afghanistan.

While speaking to European leaders, as they await President Barack Obama’s review of Afghan policy, due next week, David Miliband said that the UK, the USA and their allies face a “strategic stalemate” in some parts of Afghanistan.

David Miliband claimed that a “bigger and more effective” security force was needed to stop the Taliban controlling more territory. He asked some EU countries to provide more troops and carry a “better share of the burden.”

David Miliband described the Taliban as “a terrorist insurgency force which is able to do grave and grievous damage to our own troops and others.”

While Mr Miliband praised the contribution of Denmark and Holland, he said the burden of fighting in Afghanistan should be shared more equally by other EU countries.

Mr Miliband met the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, on Wednesday 03/18/2009, to discuss the imminent USA review of policy in Afghanistan.

Among the recommendations President Obama is expected to support is a 17,000 increase in the number of US troops and more civilian experts – such as agronomists – to help rebuild the Afghan economy (see – Obama’s deployment).

The main problems NATO-ISAF is facing in Afghanistan is the immense degree of corruption in Hamid Karzai’s regime (see – Afghan Failing-State), the sectarian splitting, the unsealed borders with Pakistan and the ongoing deterioration  in Pakistan itself, the radical interpretation of Islam accepted and exercised by the Afghan people, especially by the Pashtu tribes, and the basic resentment toward strangers interfering in local affairs.  

Many European countries fear Afghanistan might turn to a second Iraq which will suck endless resources for years to come and doubt if it worth it. 

 

 

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