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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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Obama Looks for Local Allies in Afghanistan

Administration's decided it can't wipe out Taliban

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(Newser) – President Obama has requested detailed, province-by-province analysis of Afghanistan’s local and tribal leaders, hoping to find more effective partners than the country’s weak and corrupt central government. The administration has concluded that no surge in troops will be able to eradicate the Taliban as a political force, but they believe that some provincial leaders, including Taliban-affiliated ones without ties to al-Qaeda, may be trusted to run their provinces without international help.

The information will be used to help Obama decide how many more troops to grant Stanley McChrsytal. Robert Gates and James Jones are pushing McChrystal to specifically justify where he wants to send the 44,000 he has requested. “Some see it as an attempt by the White House to do due diligence,” says one senior military official. “A less charitable view is that it is a 5,000-mile screwdriver tinkering from Washington.”

President Barack Obama, followed by Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, walks into the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009.
President Barack Obama, followed by Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, walks into the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Afghan security men walk at the site of an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009.
Afghan security men walk at the site of an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009.   (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
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How much of the country can we just leave to be run by the locals? How do you separate those who have taken up arms because they oppose the presence of foreigners from those who want to restore a Taliban government?
- An anonymous US official

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3 comments
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RogerMohajir
Oct 29, 09 8:04 AM CDT
A glimmer of intelligent analysis taking place? Hopefully, Obama's people are looking to real tribal and regional leaders, not to the strongest drug lord currently in place. Of course, it's the latter who take tea daily with the CIA operatives who will no doubt poison this effort with their "practical" alliances with thugs. Reply
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Netstorm2k9
Oct 29, 09 8:18 AM CDT
So there's going to be a coup in Afghanistan soon. Thanks for the heads up. ::rolls eyes Reply
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Ucantusethatname
Nov 2, 09 8:04 PM CST
There is no new information--and there's not going to be. Immaturity + inexperience + arrogance + narcissism = indecision + more American casualties + billions more taxpayers' dollars down a rat hole. Reply
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