The war in Afghanistan seems in greater political flux today than at any time since the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom was launched to throw out the Taliban eight years ago. With the momentum in the war clearly turning in favour of the Taliban, all of NATO seems to be discussing “exit strategies.”
As of now, Canada, the Netherlands and Denmark have all announced that they will be out of Afghanistan as of 2011. Italy also wants to leave. Germany will take its annual vote on the mission in the Bundestag next month; the German parliamentarians are likely to agree to stay, especially after this week's endorsement by the cabinet, but only for another year. This week, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Britain, proposed that NATO withdraw from certain areas of the country by the end of 2011 and turn them over to the Afghan National Army. President Barack Obama has not decided whether to increase U.S. troops or to impose other conditions on the Karzai government in return for an expanded troop deployment.
Read Full Article »