U.S. to keep 9,800 troops in Afghanistan

[jimnyc]

Wow, based on past behavior and words, I can't wait to read what the liberals have to say about this, and extending war. Oh, wait, it suddenly became fashionable when Obama took office. :rolleyes:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will seek to keep 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan after the war formally ends later this year and then will withdraw most of those forces by 2016, senior administration officials said Tuesday.

Obama's decision is largely in line with what military commanders have been seeking and will allow the president to fully end the American-led military effort by the time he leaves office.

The two-year plan is contingent on the Afghan government signing a bilateral security agreement with the U.S. While current Afghan President Hamid Karzai has declined to sign the agreement, U.S. officials are confident that either of the candidates seeking to replace him would give his approval.

The plan calls for the U.S. military to draw down from its current force of 32,000 to 9,800 by the start of next year. Those troops would be dispatched throughout Afghanistan and focus on counterterrorism missions and training Afghan security forces. They would not be engaged in combat missions.

Over the course of next year, the number of troops would be cut in half and consolidated in the capital of Kabul and at Bagram Air Field, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan. Those remaining forces would largely be withdrawn by the end of 2016, with fewer than 1,000 remaining behind to staff a security office in Kabul.

The American forces would likely be bolstered by a few thousand NATO troops. The total NATO presence, including U.S. troops, is expected to be around 12,000 at the start of next year.

http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-us-keep-9800-troops-afghanistan-151236904--politics.html

[aboutime]

NOTICE: This shows how Obama has probably made a secret deal with KARZAI to maintain a military presence to protect the POPPY FIELDS. Better known as the World's Chief supplier of HEROIN.

Imagine 9000 American troops on guard. Preventing the destruction of Karzai's Expensive Weeds.

[Drummond]

Still, it's encouraging in its way.

Obama pledged to close Gitmo. But when the reality of that came back to bite him, he found he couldn't.

Presumably, the same sort of consideration applies here. When it really comes down to it, Obama cannot justify a total troop pullout ... not as matters still stand in the region. And we all know how very much Obama cares about his image. No doubt he'd absolutely hate to have history record his wrecking policies as exactly what they ARE, so he works to save face. For the furtherance of his own narcissistic interests .. ?

[aboutime]

Still, it's encouraging in its way.

Obama pledged to close Gitmo. But when the reality of that came back to bite him, he found he couldn't.

Presumably, the same sort of consideration applies here. When it really comes down to it, Obama cannot justify a total troop pullout ... not as matters still stand in the region. And we all know how very much Obama cares about his image. No doubt he'd absolutely hate to have history record his wrecking policies as exactly what they ARE, so he works to save face. For the furtherance of his own narcissistic interests .. ?


Agreed. That's what Obama worries about the most. His image. My feelings, as a veteran are rather different. Knowing how leaving those troops there; more so for political reasons. Actually places them in far more danger than Obama would ever admit.
I'd prefer bringing them all HOME, rather than leaving them there UNDEFENDED....like BENGHAZI!
We all know how that fell apart. Much like what took place in Iraq, as the Vacuum was filled by the same people OUR TROOPS had chased, fought, Bled, and DIED FOR.
Obama is a sorry excuse for a PRETEND wannabe ACORN, NON-Community. P.O.S.!

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Pull all our troops and nuke the rock-filled barbaric muslim infested sewer!! :salute:--Tyr

[gabosaurus]

Pull all our troops and nuke the rock-filled barbaric muslim infested sewer!! :salute:--Tyr

There will be no actual combat troops remaining. All the remaining personnel will be advisers to the Afghan military.
The withdrawal is several years too late.
Of course, no combat troops should ever have been sent to the Middle East. But there is always some power-hungry idiot who thinks military action will enhance their reputation. If Dubya had been smart, he would have invaded Grenada. Worked the first time.

[jafar00]

On has to question why the US would need to station nearly 10,000 troops in a foreign country.

Pull all our troops and nuke the rock-filled barbaric muslim infested sewer!! :salute:--Tyr

There you go with the genocidal talk again. I worry about you sometimes Tyr.

[NightTrain]

On has to question why the US would need to station nearly 10,000 troops in a foreign country.


There you go with the genocidal talk again. I worry about you sometimes Tyr.

Well, all those peace loving muslims there plotting to kill more innocents aren't all just going to kill themselves. We're there to help them along before they can reach America.

The taliban aren't "True Muslims" anyway, according to you, Jafar, so I'm sure you'll be just as pleased as us for our continued effort.

[aboutime]

On has to question why the US would need to station nearly 10,000 troops in a foreign country.


There you go with the genocidal talk again. I worry about you sometimes Tyr.


jafar. If our troops in Afghanistan all leave as originally planned. What will all of you Heroin lovers do when your supply of QORAN-POWDER goes away?

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

There will be no actual combat troops remaining. All the remaining personnel will be advisers to the Afghan military.
The withdrawal is several years too late.
Of course, no combat troops should ever have been sent to the Middle East. But there is always some power-hungry idiot who thinks military action will enhance their reputation. If Dubya had been smart, he would have invaded Grenada. Worked the first time.

The M.E billionaire powers spend hundreds of millions buying politicians here to insure we must stay to insure the ffing product we need. The rub is this nation has more oil than all the sand nations combined but we are kept from drilling and using it.. And guess who does everything possible to keep us so dependent?
Its the same damn people you claim don't want us meddling there. -Tyr

[Drummond]

There will be no actual combat troops remaining. All the remaining personnel will be advisers to the Afghan military.
The withdrawal is several years too late.
Of course, no combat troops should ever have been sent to the Middle East. But there is always some power-hungry idiot who thinks military action will enhance their reputation. If Dubya had been smart, he would have invaded Grenada. Worked the first time.

IS it, Gabby ?

So, for those several years you have in mind, you'd have preferred Islamic terrorists to have had none of the opposition from US forces that they've had ??

You think that - as unprepared as they'd have been - Afghan forces should've combatted terrorism unaided ?

Perhaps the Taliban should have regained full control of Afghanistan again, then, this destroying all the achievements made over the years by American and Coalition forces, rendering all of the service personnel deaths and maimings a total waste ?

And perhaps the Taliban, newly unopposed, running riot once more, should have invited Al Qaeda back into Afghanistan - again ? To begin anew ?

H'm. You're a liberal, aren't you, Gabby ? I think I spot the signs ...

[Drummond]

On has to question why the US would need to station nearly 10,000 troops in a foreign country.

You would prefer people to question that, Jafar ?

I'm sure you would.

Perhaps the Taliban should be left alone, then, opposition diminished to the greatest extent possible. I'm sure Al Qaeda would be pleased.

[Jeff]

There will be no actual combat troops remaining. All the remaining personnel will be advisers to the Afghan military.
The withdrawal is several years too late.
Of course, no combat troops should ever have been sent to the Middle East. But there is always some power-hungry idiot who thinks military action will enhance their reputation. If Dubya had been smart, he would have invaded Grenada. Worked the first time.

So the war on terror is over now ? We will still have American's losing their lives over there. As for enhancing ones rep , do ya think that was what those that voted to go to war where thinking ?

This is a good read, it shows how many voted to fight the terrorist anyway we needed to do so, I guess it wasn't GW who woke up and said F*** it I am going to attack Afghanistan today

Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists




The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), Pub. L. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Congress) 107-40 (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ40/pdf/PLAW-107publ40.pdf), codified at 115 Stat. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Statutes_at_Large) 224 and passed as S.J.Res. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_resolution) 23 by the United States Congress (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress) on September 14, 2001, authorizes the use of United States Armed Forces (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Armed_Forces) against those responsible for the attacks on September 11, 2001 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attacks_on_September_11,_2001). The authorization granted the President (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States) the authority to use all "necessary and appropriate force" against those whom he determined "planned, authorized, committed or aided" the September 11th attacks, or who harbored said persons or groups. The AUMF was signed by President George W. Bush (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush) on September 18, 2001.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorization_for_Use_of_Military_Force_Against_Te rrorists

[gabosaurus]

If Dubya had not used lies and scare tactics, Congress would likely have voted differently.

Obama should have stuck to his original campaign promise to have ALL troops out of the Middle East by 2012. Though it is tough having to clean up the mess left by your predecessors.

[jimnyc]

If Dubya had not used lies and scare tactics, Congress would likely have voted differently.

Obama should have stuck to his original campaign promise to have ALL troops out of the Middle East by 2012. Though it is tough having to clean up the mess left by your predecessors.

omg, lose an argument and the blame bush crap comes like clockwork

[NightTrain]

If Dubya had not used lies and scare tactics, Congress would likely have voted differently.

You should educate yourself as to what Congress was saying prior to the vote. They gave lots of statements and speeches. Oh yes, even those democrats.


Obama should have stuck to his original campaign promise to have ALL troops out of the Middle East by 2012. Though it is tough having to clean up the mess left by your predecessors.

He said what Low-Information voters wanted to hear.

It worked, right? He got you to vote for him at least twice.

[aboutime]

If Dubya had not used lies and scare tactics, Congress would likely have voted differently.

Obama should have stuck to his original campaign promise to have ALL troops out of the Middle East by 2012. Though it is tough having to clean up the mess left by your predecessors.


Gabby, the http://icansayit.com/images/brokenrecord.jpg

Still has never provided proof that (as she insists) Bush lied to anyone..
Keep using your brainwashed excuses gabby. I enjoy showing how accurate they are.

[jimnyc]

You should educate yourself as to what Congress was saying prior to the vote. They gave lots of statements and speeches. Oh yes, even those democrats.

Don't even bother, most liberals, and this one in particular, couldn't give a rats butt about what the Democrats repeated from 1998 till the day of invasion. To include from: Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton - the Senate Intelligence Committee which was headed by Democrat. But not a peep towards them, even when the SIC was briefed by the CIA, FBI and other agencies - hence Rockefeller and the other Dems on the intelligence panel voting in favor. But "the buck stops here" and Bush was in charge, damnit, so it's HIS responsibility!

Now, fast forward a few years - does ANYTHING ever stop at Obama's desk as it applied to Bush? NOTHING. They still bring up Bush 19x per day and Obama is excused from Benghazi, NSA, IRS, Fast and Furious.... Everything is an excuse and back to Bush and such. Bush can't get away from things he didn't do 6-14 years ago, while the liberals seem to think Obama has been responsible for nothing but good things. What a rosy world!

[NightTrain]

Don't even bother, most liberals, and this one in particular, couldn't give a rats butt about what the Democrats repeated from 1998 till the day of invasion. To include from: Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton - the Senate Intelligence Committee which was headed by Democrat. But not a peep towards them, even when the SIC was briefed by the CIA, FBI and other agencies - hence Rockefeller and the other Dems on the intelligence panel voting in favor. But "the buck stops here" and Bush was in charge, damnit, so it's HIS responsibility!

Now, fast forward a few years - does ANYTHING ever stop at Obama's desk as it applied to Bush? NOTHING. They still bring up Bush 19x per day and Obama is excused from Benghazi, NSA, IRS, Fast and Furious.... Everything is an excuse and back to Bush and such. Bush can't get away from things he didn't do 6-14 years ago, while the liberals seem to think Obama has been responsible for nothing but good things. What a rosy world!

Yep. I don't know why I even bothered wasting bandwidth addressing her blathering bullshit. Both you and I have force-fed her pages of facts demonstrating how completely wrong she is, with zero effect.

The alarming thing for me is that supposedly she is a professional in our education system and has conclusively proven over the years that she doesn't give a damn about facts and happily parrots delusional soundbites even after being shown how utterly false her claims are.

Thank God there are people like Kathianne to balance out these willfully ignorant ones teaching our kids.

[gabosaurus]

Yep. I don't know why I even bothered wasting bandwidth addressing her blathering bullshit. Both you and I have force-fed her pages of facts demonstrating how completely wrong she is, with zero effect.

The alarming thing for me is that supposedly she is a professional in our education system and has conclusively proven over the years that she doesn't give a damn about facts and happily parrots delusional soundbites even after being shown how utterly false her claims are.


More trolling and personal attacks. Perfectly acceptable if you are on the right side of the table.

[aboutime]

More trolling and personal attacks. Perfectly acceptable if you are on the right side of the table.


gabby. So tell us. How many copies of "I AM A TROLL" have you purchased for yourself after the publisher gave you the FIRST one...for free?

[Jeff]

If Dubya had not used lies and scare tactics, Congress would likely have voted differently.

Obama should have stuck to his original campaign promise to have ALL troops out of the Middle East by 2012. Though it is tough having to clean up the mess left by your predecessors.

Gabby how much scare tactics could he of made in a couple of days ? Gaby the Authorization for Use of Military Force ( AUMF ) was voted on 9/14/01 a couple of days after the attack.



S.J.Res. 23 (107th): Authorization for Use of Military Force (On the Joint Resolution)

<dl><dt>Number:</dt><dd>Senate Vote #281 [primary source: senate.gov (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=1&vote=00281)]</dd><dt>Date:</dt><dd>Sep 14, 2001 (107th Congress)</dd><dt>Result:</dt><dd>Joint Resolution Passed</dd></dl>
Track Votes (https://www.govtrack.us/events/track-something?feed=misc:allvotes)

This was a vote to agree to a resolution.

<dl style="margin: 0"><dt>Resolution:</dt><dd>S.J.Res. 23 (107th): Authorization for Use of Military Force (https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/107/sjres23)
Introduced by Sen. Thomas “Tom” Daschle [D-SD, 1987-2004] (https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/thomas_daschle/300031) on September 14, 2001 </dd></dl>





This is a great site, it shows how old slow Joe and Hillary both vote YEA for it.


In fact Gabs it shows how more Dems than Reps vote for it




<thead>

Totals
Democrat
Republican
Independent

</thead> <tbody>
Yea
98



98%

50
47
1


Nay
0



0%

0
0
0


Not Voting
2



2%

0
2
0


Required:
Simple Majority

</tbody>


https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/107-2001/s281


Now it is easy to blame others when we don't want to hear the truth, as for Obama and keeping promises has he kept any ? AS for this promise personally I would of like to of heard him tell the Country the truth and just admitted he didn't have enough experience when he made that promise and once he knew the facts he had to re think and did what he needed to. But like you I am sure Obama knew just what he was doing, Yes he is one heck of a Liar.

[NightTrain]

More trolling and personal attacks. Perfectly acceptable if you are on the right side of the table.


Certainly not trolling.

Not a personal attack, either. Simply stating personal observations from watching you interact with others and my own dealings with you over the years.

You love to drop a snarky remark like you did above, knowing that it's bullshit, and then flee the scene rather than try to defend your impossible position. You know what you said is bullshit, because I've personally proven to you that it's bullshit. Jim has also done the same to you with the exact same topic. Others have done the same to you with the same topic.

It's rich that you feign consternation with my post. You know and I know that every word I said is true.

Remember a while back when I dug up all the snarky posts you've made and put them all in the same post? It was a thing of beauty, if I do say so myself, and it made very clear what your modus operandi is.

You'll find that you get respect for honestly posting, instead of the asinine games you love to play.

So spare me the martyr routine.

[jafar00]

Well, all those peace loving muslims there plotting to kill more innocents aren't all just going to kill themselves. We're there to help them along before they can reach America.

The taliban aren't "True Muslims" anyway, according to you, Jafar, so I'm sure you'll be just as pleased as us for our continued effort.

I'm all for dealing with the Taliban. Any group that twists young minds who know nothing about Islam because of a lack of education about their religion into believing that they will live when they carry out a suicide attack is no Muslim group. Yes, they do brainwash them into believing they will be the survivor! Or they attach explosives to a kid, telling them that they are important documents, tell them to meet someone somewhere, then blow them up remotely when US troops go past.

The Taliban and anyone involved with them shall burn in hell. That is for sure.

[jimnyc]

More trolling and personal attacks. Perfectly acceptable if you are on the right side of the table.

Wait, so you reported the preceding post? Or you asked a staff member about it - like others often do with your tripe? Nope, you instantly tried to accuse staff, and make a claim that personal attacks are acceptable. Don't ASSume everyone here reads everything at the same pace.

[NightTrain]

Wait, so you reported the preceding post? Or you asked a staff member about it - like others often do with your tripe? Nope, you instantly tried to accuse staff, and make a claim that personal attacks are acceptable. Don't ASSume everyone here reads everything at the same pace.

Gabby reported my post? LOL!

Attagirl, Gabby. :laugh2:

[jimnyc]

Gabby reported my post? LOL!

Attagirl, Gabby. :laugh2:

No, she didn't report your post, but that was my point. She was condemning staff for not doing anything about troll posts from those on the right. And about a post that I was completely unaware of, and the rest off staff as far as I know.

[Drummond]

I'm all for dealing with the Taliban. Any group that twists young minds who know nothing about Islam because of a lack of education about their religion into believing that they will live when they carry out a suicide attack is no Muslim group. Yes, they do brainwash them into believing they will be the survivor! Or they attach explosives to a kid, telling them that they are important documents, tell them to meet someone somewhere, then blow them up remotely when US troops go past.

The Taliban and anyone involved with them shall burn in hell. That is for sure.

And you have the very same to say for all terrorist groups - even including those terrorist groups who govern others - who'll do the same ?

YES or NO ?

Let's see, Jafar, if I can finally get an unequivocal condemnation from you which applies, for example, to Hamas ! What about it ?

[aboutime]

Certainly not trolling.

Not a personal attack, either. Simply stating personal observations from watching you interact with others and my own dealings with you over the years.

You love to drop a snarky remark like you did above, knowing that it's bullshit, and then flee the scene rather than try to defend your impossible position. You know what you said is bullshit, because I've personally proven to you that it's bullshit. Jim has also done the same to you with the exact same topic. Others have done the same to you with the same topic.

It's rich that you feign consternation with my post. You know and I know that every word I said is true.

Remember a while back when I dug up all the snarky posts you've made and put them all in the same post? It was a thing of beauty, if I do say so myself, and it made very clear what your modus operandi is.

You'll find that you get respect for honestly posting, instead of the asinine games you love to play.

So spare me the martyr routine.



Night Train. Gabby is a mere extension of Obama here on DP. Whenever the truth is exposed to her. She instantly jumps into the Defensive mode. Taught from the DNC training book, or how to NEVER actually answer a question by..asking another question. Much like jafar's propaganda machine he uses in defending Liars, and Murderers.

[jafar00]

And you have the very same to say for all terrorist groups - even including those terrorist groups who govern others - who'll do the same ?

YES or NO ?

Let's see, Jafar, if I can finally get an unequivocal condemnation from you which applies, for example, to Hamas ! What about it ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive%E2%80%93compulsive_disorder

[aboutime]

I trust jafar as much as I would try to trust OBAMA. Or, better yet.

Like trusting Hillary Clinton...pushing a http://icansayit.com/images/hillresetbutt.jpg