US says too few Afghans to take control in Marjah

[Mari333]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Not nearly enough trained Afghans are available to take control of key Taliban strongholds like Marjah after the military has pushed out the enemy, U.S. officials told a Senate panel on Thursday.

The lack of competent local officials in southern Afghanistan could frustrate Washington's aims in the region, and keep the U.S. on the hook - financially and militarily - for several years to come. President Barack Obama has pledged that American forces will begin their exit next year.

"The number of those civilians ... who are trained, capable, willing to go into (Taliban-controlled areas) does not match at all demand," David Sedney, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The assessment didn't sit well with lawmakers, who have grown tired of committing limited U.S. resources and lives to a war with an uncertain outcome

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_AFGHANISTAN_MARJAH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-05-06-15-53-39

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i.e.

clusterfck.

get OUT.

[msongs]

1. too many corporations n military folks making too much money there to leave nt

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. That's ok, they can go back & "win it" over & over. Like they have been doing

for almost 10 years now.

[Flaneur]

3. Wait, I thought that was our big victory. Doesn't bode well for Kandahar.

[maxsolomon]

4. too much concentration on building up police and military forces

and not civil services. makes sense, because that's how president cheney thought.

step 1 to get out of this clusterfuck is legalize the afghani heroin trade & purchase it all. step 2 is stick to the timeline.