We are faced with two choices in Afghanistan:

[Nikki Stone1]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/20090511_becoming_what_we_seek_to_destroy/

....We are faced with two stark choices. We can withdraw and open negotiations with the Taliban or continue to expand the war until we are driven out. The corrupt and unpopular regimes of Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari are impotent allies. The longer they remain tethered to the United States, the weaker they become. And the weaker they become, the louder become the calls for intervention in Pakistan. During the war in Vietnam, we invaded Cambodia to bring stability to the region and cut off rebel sanctuaries and supply routes. This tactic only empowered the Khmer Rouge. We seem poised, in much the same way, to do the same for radical Islamists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“If the Americans step up the war in Afghanistan, they will be sucked into Pakistan,” Dr. Fournot warned. “Pakistan is a time bomb waiting to explode. You have a huge population, 170 million people. There is nuclear power. Pakistan is much more dangerous than Afghanistan. War always has its own logic. Once you set foot in war, you do not control it. It sucks you in.”

[bbinacan]

1. Negotiate with the Taliban?

I've got a bridge for sale. It's in Brooklyn.

[tekisui]

4. The broad brush term 'Taliban' is misleading.

The Taliban are local groups. Not all of them are horrid. If the moderate ones are welcomed into the political process, progress can be made. The intell folks know which groups are extremists and which ones are reasonable. They are not all one and the same, though.

[timeforpeace]

8. Remember it's the "right war" so it's either victory or losing another war ala Vietnam. Been 8 years

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. We could become their friends again if we could get Russia to

invade again.... just a thought.

[orpupilofnature57]

3. how about Leave or Leave ,Health care not warfare.What has it got US

except more debt and death.The taliban are criminals not a nation.

[Ian David]

5. There's a third choice...

And if THAT fails...

[jakeXT]

14. Okay we play a round of Buzkashi and the winner gets Afghanistan

Bush is afraid of horses that excludes him, but I bet Prince Charles is a good polo player.

I wonder if the Taliban would play it

During Taliban regime of Afganistan, Buzkashi was banned

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzkashi

[SilverShield]

6. GTFO of Afghanistan

All we are doing there is protecting the CIAs poppy fields...

[obliviously]

9. Oh yes the poppy fields!

Dollar general has aluminum foil on sale cheap!

[orpupilofnature57]

11. The real concerns

[FarCenter]

7. Afghanistan is the size of Arizona, Utah, western Colorado, but has 2.5 times the people

Pakistan is the size of California and Nevada, but has 4.5 times the people.

It's time to leave unless we're ready to do a nuclear decapitation of Pakistan, followed by a full-scale Indian invasion of both countries.

[elocs]

10. If we were not there now and the Taliban was invading Afghanistan and trying to gain control

of the nation, are the Afghani people totally incapable of defending their own country if we were to arm, supply, and support them? Do the Taliban troops outnumber the Afghanis? Does the Taliban have some nation greater than the U.S. that is supporting them to the point that they would have no problem in overrunning Afghanistan? How many more years will the U.S. have to be in Afghanistan to train their army?

With our support, the Afghanis need to fight their own war to keep their own country.

[babylonsister]

12. I'm pretty convinced we don't have the time or resources to improve

anything. I vote get out.

[obliviously]

13. I have to agree.

If I thought we would accomplish something it would be different!

[Nikki Stone1]

15. More on Pakistan from the LA Times (Quotes from McChrystal)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-intel20-2009sep20,0,1183243.story

The CIA is also carrying out an escalating campaign of unmanned Predator missile strikes on Al Qaeda and insurgent strongholds in Pakistan. The number of strikes so far this year, 37, already exceeds the 2008 total, according to data compiled by the Long War Journal website, which tracks Predator strikes in Pakistan.

The agency recently submitted a request for additional Predators from the Air Force, which manages the U.S. drone fleet, one official said. For years, the CIA drones were operated from inside Pakistan, but some are also flown from an air base across the Afghan border near Jalalabad.

A drone strike last month killed Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mahsud. U.S. officials said they are watching closely to see whether his death leads to even a temporary drop in the number of suicide bombings.

Mahsud's organization had become a major supplier of suicide bombers to other insurgent groups, training attackers that in some cases would be deployed to carry out strikes in Pakistan or Afghanistan....