WASHINGTON, June 26:The Pentagon sent thousands of US troops to the wrong province in Afghanistanand squandered more than a year of the war, claims a book released onTuesday.
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[h=3]The book Little America: The War within the War for Afghanistan alsoshows how the White House national security staff blocked the late AmbassadorRichard Holbrooke from negotiating a peace deal with the Taliban.[/h][h=3]After reading the revelations, Congressman Frank Wolf wrote a letter toPresident Barack Obama, urging him to remove retired Lt-Gen Douglas Lute fromhis post on the National Security Council for blocking Mr. Holbrookes peaceplans.[/h][h=3]In February 2009, President Obama agreed to send 17,000 additional troopsto Afghanistan and another 30,000 later the same year.[/h][h=3]But more than 50 per cent of the initial 17,000 ended up in Helmand insteadof the Taliban nerve-center of Kandahar.[/h][h=3]Can someone tell me why the Marines were sent to Helmand? Gen StanleyMcChrystal, the then US commander in Afghanistan, reportedly asked upon hisarrival in Kabul in June 2009.[/h][h=3]Gen McChrystal regarded Helmand to be of far lower strategic significancethan Kandahar.[/h][h=3]If the first batch of surge troops had been deployed to Kandahar, it couldhave obviated the need for a full 30,000 surge later that year, US militaryofficials who served in Afghanistan told the author, Rajiv Chandrasekaran ofThe Washington Post.[/h][h=3]A deployment in Kandahar could also have granted US commanders theflexibility to combat insurgent havens in eastern Afghanistan much sooner, thebook states.[/h][h=3]Gen McChrystals 34-year career ended in June 2010 when a Rolling Stonemagazine article quoted his subordinates ridiculing President Obama.[/h][h=3]The book details how the infighting between Mr. Holbrooke and Gen Lute and then-National Security Adviser James Jones thwarted efforts to seek anegotiated settlement to the Afghan war.[/h][h=3]At one stage, Gen Jones tried getting President Obama to fire Mr. Holbrookebut Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prevented it.[/h][h=3]NSC officials would schedule key meetings when Mr. Holbrooke was out oftown, refused to allow him to use a military aero plane and tried,unsuccessfully, to exclude him from President Obamas Oval Office meeting withAfghan President Hamid Karzai.[/h][h=3]President Obama could have ordered a stop to the infighting because, hetoo favored a negotiated end to the war, like Mr. Holbrooke, but hissympathies lay with his NSC staffers, the book notes.[/h][h=3]The president did not like Mr. Holbrookes frenetic behavior, which wasthe antithesis of Mr. Obamas no-drama rule, Mr. Chandrasekaran writes. Thepresident never granted Mr. Holbrooke a one-on-one session in the Oval Office,and when he travelled to Afghanistan in March 2010, he took more than a dozenpeople except Mr. Holbrooke.[/h][h=3]In July 2009, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia sent a personal message toPresident Obama asking him to dispatch someone to meet Taliban emissaries whowere communicating with the Saudi intelligence service.[/h][h=3]Mr. Holbrooke figured the overture was worth pursuing but the NSC showedlittle interest.[/h][h=3]In the spring of 2010, the NSC eventually expressed support forreconciliation but with a twist: Gen Lute suggested that a UN envoy, formerAlgerian foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi, should negotiate with the Taliban.[/h][h=3]Gen Lutes plan relegated Mr. Holbrooke to a support role.[/h][h=3]This infuriated Secretary Clinton who thought the NSC was asking a UN envoyto run Americas foreign policy.[/h][h=3]When Gen David Petraeus replaced Gen McChrystal in Afghanistan, he shelvedpeace moves and tried to subdue the Taliban in the battlefield, as he had donein Iraq.[/h][h=3]In a letter to President Obama, Congressman Wolf, notes: Ignoring policysuggestions simply because of personal differences prevented the fullconsideration of all ideas for achieving success in the region.[/h][h=3]Mr. Wolf, who is a member of the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee,urges Mr. Obama to act now.[/h][h=3]Since you chose not to quash this petty squabbling while it was occurring,I believe the only solution now is to remove Gen Lute, he writes.[/h][h=3]Such behavior, he says, is unacceptable, especially when the lives ofAmerica service members are on the line.[/h]
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[h=3]The book Little America: The War within the War for Afghanistan alsoshows how the White House national security staff blocked the late AmbassadorRichard Holbrooke from negotiating a peace deal with the Taliban.[/h][h=3]After reading the revelations, Congressman Frank Wolf wrote a letter toPresident Barack Obama, urging him to remove retired Lt-Gen Douglas Lute fromhis post on the National Security Council for blocking Mr. Holbrookes peaceplans.[/h][h=3]In February 2009, President Obama agreed to send 17,000 additional troopsto Afghanistan and another 30,000 later the same year.[/h][h=3]But more than 50 per cent of the initial 17,000 ended up in Helmand insteadof the Taliban nerve-center of Kandahar.[/h][h=3]Can someone tell me why the Marines were sent to Helmand? Gen StanleyMcChrystal, the then US commander in Afghanistan, reportedly asked upon hisarrival in Kabul in June 2009.[/h][h=3]Gen McChrystal regarded Helmand to be of far lower strategic significancethan Kandahar.[/h][h=3]If the first batch of surge troops had been deployed to Kandahar, it couldhave obviated the need for a full 30,000 surge later that year, US militaryofficials who served in Afghanistan told the author, Rajiv Chandrasekaran ofThe Washington Post.[/h][h=3]A deployment in Kandahar could also have granted US commanders theflexibility to combat insurgent havens in eastern Afghanistan much sooner, thebook states.[/h][h=3]Gen McChrystals 34-year career ended in June 2010 when a Rolling Stonemagazine article quoted his subordinates ridiculing President Obama.[/h][h=3]The book details how the infighting between Mr. Holbrooke and Gen Lute and then-National Security Adviser James Jones thwarted efforts to seek anegotiated settlement to the Afghan war.[/h][h=3]At one stage, Gen Jones tried getting President Obama to fire Mr. Holbrookebut Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prevented it.[/h][h=3]NSC officials would schedule key meetings when Mr. Holbrooke was out oftown, refused to allow him to use a military aero plane and tried,unsuccessfully, to exclude him from President Obamas Oval Office meeting withAfghan President Hamid Karzai.[/h][h=3]President Obama could have ordered a stop to the infighting because, hetoo favored a negotiated end to the war, like Mr. Holbrooke, but hissympathies lay with his NSC staffers, the book notes.[/h][h=3]The president did not like Mr. Holbrookes frenetic behavior, which wasthe antithesis of Mr. Obamas no-drama rule, Mr. Chandrasekaran writes. Thepresident never granted Mr. Holbrooke a one-on-one session in the Oval Office,and when he travelled to Afghanistan in March 2010, he took more than a dozenpeople except Mr. Holbrooke.[/h][h=3]In July 2009, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia sent a personal message toPresident Obama asking him to dispatch someone to meet Taliban emissaries whowere communicating with the Saudi intelligence service.[/h][h=3]Mr. Holbrooke figured the overture was worth pursuing but the NSC showedlittle interest.[/h][h=3]In the spring of 2010, the NSC eventually expressed support forreconciliation but with a twist: Gen Lute suggested that a UN envoy, formerAlgerian foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi, should negotiate with the Taliban.[/h][h=3]Gen Lutes plan relegated Mr. Holbrooke to a support role.[/h][h=3]This infuriated Secretary Clinton who thought the NSC was asking a UN envoyto run Americas foreign policy.[/h][h=3]When Gen David Petraeus replaced Gen McChrystal in Afghanistan, he shelvedpeace moves and tried to subdue the Taliban in the battlefield, as he had donein Iraq.[/h][h=3]In a letter to President Obama, Congressman Wolf, notes: Ignoring policysuggestions simply because of personal differences prevented the fullconsideration of all ideas for achieving success in the region.[/h][h=3]Mr. Wolf, who is a member of the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee,urges Mr. Obama to act now.[/h][h=3]Since you chose not to quash this petty squabbling while it was occurring,I believe the only solution now is to remove Gen Lute, he writes.[/h][h=3]Such behavior, he says, is unacceptable, especially when the lives ofAmerica service members are on the line.[/h]
