Shuffling Numbers in Afghanistan

Analysis…

Photo by Pete Souza / The White House

President Obama and his national security advisers have begun examining an option that would send relatively few troops to Afghanistan, about 10,000 to 15,000, with most designated as trainers for the Afghan security forces.  The decision came after Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan, wrote to officials stating he believes sending more troops to Afghanistan would be harmful, not helpful.

The Huffington Post |  No doubt there are real tactical differences between Karl Eikenberry, [the U.S. ambassador in Kabul,] and the U.S./NATO commander in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, the ultra-spun brainy spartan who wants to boost the current U.S. troop level of 68,000 to well over 100,000 in the war-afflicted country. But those policy disputes exist well within the context of a permanent war psychology.
What’s desperately needed is a clear breakaway from that psychology, which routinely offers “kinder, gentler” forms of endless and horrific war. But predictably, in the days and weeks ahead, some progressives — from the grassroots to Capitol Hill — will gravitate toward Eikenberry’s stance.
Fine-tuning the U.S. war in Afghanistan is no substitute for acknowledging — with words and with policy — that there will be no military solution. Adjusting the dose and mix of military intervention is a prescription to do more harm on a massive scale.

Matthew Yglesias |  I think you can make the case that the alleged need to have Karzai clean up his act is overstated, but I think it’s true that if it’s genuinely necessary to get him to clean up his act then an unconditional commitment to pour more resources into the country is a poor way to produce that outcome.

The Washington Independent |  It had been my understanding that a troop infusion of this size was not greeted with much enthusiasm at the White House. But if President Obama is really telling all factions to get much more specific about how the war ends, then perhaps it really is on the table.
If it is, the question becomes whether McChrystal stays in his command. While we may not actually know what McChrystal himself desires, his friends in the Joint Special Operations Command, I’ve been told, favor a troop increase far above 10,000. If he does, he’ll be blessing whatever Obama decides. But very, very few commanders ever actually resign. If McChrystal proves to be the exception, it will be a political debacle for the Obama administration, and so it’s a safe bet that the White House will do whatever it can not to force the general’s hand.

Taylor Marsh |  The off-ramp, path to withdraw option is the newest twist in what has become a seemingly unending process to decide what to do in Afghanistan. The good news is that it’s getting into the dead of winter, so the delay doesn’t mean much, as we can’t do much at this point.
The election results that defaulted to Karzai’s benefit has impacted the situation a great deal, according to just about everyone I’ve talked to on the issue. With good reason. Karzai is not only an unreliable partner, whose corruption is second only to the aid issues of private contractors, but who also has ignored humanitarian goals, especially that of women in the country. The Rape Law he allowed to pass, which was eventually pulled, is just one example. This issue isn’t going away and the U.S. cannot ignore it for its own selfish ends. We either stand up for human rights or not, as is our charge as a great nation.
All this being in the wind, however, I’m just not one of those people who are going to weigh the importance of being involved in a strategic area of the world against domestic issues, coming down in an either or argument. If the U.S. cannot balance our national security strategic imperatives and our domestic needs simultaneously, this country is in bigger trouble than anyone can imagine with the worse yet to come.

News…

Gay Rights Go Global  |  TruthOut

One hindrance to LGBT rights is that no international human rights convention specifically acknowledges sexual rights as human rights. None explicitly guarantee equality and non-discrimination to LGBT people. The right to love a person of one’s choice is wholly absent from global humanitarian statutes. Relationships between partners of the same sex is not specifically recognized in any international law. There is nothing in any of the many U.N. conventions that explicitly prohibits homophobic discrimination and protects LGBT people.

South Korea’s Growing Soft Power  |  Project Syndicate

When the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met in Thailand last month, South Korea was an important presence. Quietly, South Korea has moved away from being defined by its problematic North Korean neighbor, and is becoming an important middle-ranking power in global affairs. A South Korean is Secretary-General of the United Nations; Seoul will host next year’s G-20 summit; and the country has just reached a free-trade agreement with the European Union.
This was not always so. If geography is destiny, South Korea was dealt a weak hand. Wedged into an area where three giants – China, Japan, and Russia – confront each other, Korea has had a difficult history of developing sufficient “hard” military power to defend itself. Indeed, at the beginning of the twentieth century, such efforts failed and Korea became a colony of Japan.

Who’s Paying for the Recession Most of All? Young Workers  |  AlterNet

Young people have lost 2.5 million jobs to the crisis, making them the hardest-hit age group.
These are not happy days for America’s young and striving. Indeed, as the economy has rocked and tumbled its way through 2009, spewing jobs like a sea-sick tourist, these have become very, very bad days. In September, the unemployment rate for people between the ages of 16 and 24 hovered morosely at 18.1 percent, nearly double the national average for that month. At the same time, the actual employment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds dropped to a startling 46 percent, the grimmest such figure on record since 1948, the year the government began keeping track. Taken together, this same group of young people has lost more than 2.5 million jobs since the economy began deflating in December 2007, roughly one-third of all the jobs lost, making them the hardest-hit age group of the recession.