The Obama Surge and Exit - Afghanistan

The Washington Post: Reports that President Obama will send thirty four thousand soldiers out to Afghanistan and will ask the Allies to make up the difference between the US surge and the McChrystal request of forty thousand soldiers. As long as the surge is over thirty thousand then President Obama is on the right track, as getting more troops out of NATO and US Allies that depends if its 5 or 10 thousand Obama wants from them, five thousand should be a reasonable request to NATO and US Allies. The idea that somehow you can turn Afghanistan around in to Chicago with the flaws of that state is barmy, Afghanistan is and always has been a nightmare for any power, from the British Empire through the USSR now to the USA under Obama. At the end of the day if the Taliban agree to keep Al Qaeda out of Afghanistan and not to support the Taliban of Pakistan they can take Afghanistan back to the stone age, that brutal and honest folks. There is no way on God's earth that you can make Afghanistan in the Western image. Its about grinding down the Taliban, make them do a deal and get the hell out of the place.