Musharraf says U.S. pullout from Afghanistan would be 'disastrous'

[sabra]

Source: desmoines register

Americans need to prepare for the likelihood that more U.S. troops will be needed in Afghanistan and that they will be there many years, the former president of neighboring Pakistan said in Iowa on Saturday.

Pervez Musharraf, who resigned under pressure last year, said it would be "disastrous" for the United States to pull out of Afghanistan now. If the Taliban are allowed to return to power, he said, they surely would allow al-Qaida terrorists to rebuild strength in Afghanistan, destabilizing the region and posing a major threat to the United States.

The only solution, he said, is for international troops, led by the United States, to establish military dominance in Afghanistan and gain the trust of people there, so a long-term political solution can be formed.

Musharraf spoke to Des Moines Register reporters and editors at the Clive home of a family friend, where he stopped for the day. The former Pakistani leader, who is a controversial figure at home and abroad, is on a speaking tour in the United States.

Read more: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20091004/NEWS0...

[Ineeda]

1. Of course he'd say that. Wouldn't want the $$$ from rolling in to his pockets. n/t

[MidwestTransplant]

2. For him.

[ixion]

3. and this little dictator has any credibility because...

[sledgehammer]

5. None. Absolutely no credibility whatsoever.

He was part of the Bush fear machine - "if you don't support me and only me in suppressing democracy and freedoms, then those bearded mullahs will take over Pakistan and threaten the world with our nuclear weapons. blah blah blah"

Totally false! The religious parties have only had one election year with moderate success, and that was when Lord VoldeMush was in power because he banned almost everyone else. As soon as he left, the religious parties became irrelevant and won almost nothing in the elections.

And Bush used these unfounded fear claims to keep funding him and to augment the fear propaganda in the US.

Bush and Mush - two sides of the same coin.

[Soylent Brice]

4. does anyone else feel like we're just a cash cow, and

that for the past 30 yrs repigs have just been pimping out the american taxpayers to fund ignorant ventures across the globe?

[EFerrari]

6. They use us to line their pockets. They just look incompetent

but are very good at masking what they're really doing -- developing their portfolios at our expense.

[Soylent Brice]

7. odd but perfect metaphor:

http://spongebob.wikia.com/wiki/Jellyfish_Hunter

on edit: we're the jellyfish

i have 3 kids.

lol