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Ear to the Ground

‘Very Challenging Year’ for Afghanistan

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Posted on Jan 31, 2010
Flickr / UK in Afghanistan

Mark Sedwill, center, former British ambassador to Afghanistan, visited soldiers there in 2009 before he was appointed to his current NATO post.

According to NATO’s newly appointed chief civilian representative, 2010 in Afghanistan will see more violence and casualties, but will also mark a turning point in the fight against the Taliban. —JCL

The Telegraph:

The newly-appointed Nato civilian representative in Afghanistan has warned that 2010 will bring “many more” casualties and an “awful lot of violence” in the fight against the Taliban.

But Mark Sedwill, the senior British diplomat who will represent the coalition in non-military matters, predicted that this year would also see a turning point in the conflict, as Nato beefed up its strategy politically and in terms of its fighting force.

Predicting that troops would be fighting for between three and five more years, he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show: “This year will be another very challenging year.

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ThomasG's avatar

By ThomasG, January 31, 2010 at 10:03 pm Link to this comment

It is time to be out of Afghanistan and develop some concern about the populace and a populace economy for the United States.

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By gerard, January 31, 2010 at 6:46 pm Link to this comment

“Predicting that troops would be fighting for between three and five more years,...” 
  “I am sure there will be many more casualties, there will be an awful lot of violence. That is, I   am afraid, the nature of the conflict.
  “...troops in these front-line roles for three years, maybe three to five years.”
  “We will have many foreign troops there in training and supporting probably for a decade or more.”
  “Mr Sedwill predicted that even once the troops departed, Afghanistan would require development aid for: 20, 30, 40 years, even.”

ALL QUOTES FROM THE SAME REPORT.  GET IT???

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By Jim Yell, January 31, 2010 at 12:40 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

And, how many times have we been told “we are at a turninging point” and how many times have we been told “we only need more troops and weapons and everything will fall into place”?

The fact is there is no pressing need for us to be in these countries. They will not learn anything if we play big brother. The only motivation is trying to control the uncontrolable and certain groups hoping to use our intrusion as means to take unfair advantage of the locals.

Of the number of things that make Obama irrelavant, his caving to the military-industrial complex is damning.

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