Act now on Afghanistan, Obama admin told

WASHINGTON (Pajhwok): An eminent think-tank on Monday asked the Obama administration to clearly inform the Afghan people and the incoming government about the conditions for continued support and make sure they accepted the American terms.

“The Administration has already waited far too long to determine whether the US will stay in Afghanistan on realistic terms and to create clear plans for the kind of funding and advisory presence that is needed,” said Anthony H Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

He asked the administration to persuade the American people and Congress that it had a credible, strategic, rational and plan for staying in the war-torn country. Washington needed to honestly assess the current challenges and not under-resource transition, he added.

The expert warned the war might not end with a bang, but it might well end with a whimper, saying the insurgents in had not won broad popular support, and had significantly more military limitations than the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).

If the ANSF received the aid they needed during the key years following US and ISAF exit, they would be able to hold key population centres and lines of communication. With help, their strengths may well offset their weaknesses.

Much of Afghan success in the security sector will still depend on Pakistan‘s tacit and covert support of Afghan insurgent sanctuaries, and the ability of the new Afghan government to actually govern in ways that win broad national support.

“Winning this support also does not require the government to achieve unrealistic goals that the US may focus upon,” he said, adding that it required the government to meet Afghan standards.

Afghanistan’s civil sector might not have made the progress the US government had claimed, but it might be able to adjust if Washington provided emergency aid and dealt with the real world Afghanistan rather than a fantasyland, he noted.

mud

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