Saturday, October 04, 2008

Top Brit - Lower Your Expectations on Afghanistan


Britain's top general in Afghanistan is cautioning people they can give up any fanciful ideas of a decisive military victory over the Taliban. Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith suggests people "lower their expectations" about how this war will turn out and prepare themselves for some sort of deal involving the Taliban.

"We're not going to win this war. It's about reducing it to a manageable level of insurgency that's not a strategic threat and can be managed by the Afghan army," said Carleton-Smith.

Early last week a story leaked out about Britain's ambassador to Afghanistan musing that the best that can be hoped for is strongman rule for Afghanistan.

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