By Farrukh Saleem
ISLAMABAD: President Barack Hussein Obama II is bent upon extracting political mileage out of America’s military misadventure in the ‘graveyard of empires’. A double-dip recession hanging over Obama’s re-election ambitions and the one hundred twelfth United States Congress having the largest number of Republican members since 1947 (Republican 242 v. Democrat 193) can the generals deliver some good news out of Afghanistan?
In the latest Quinipiac University Poll, 58 percent of Americans “think that the US should not be involved in Afghanistan (August 16-27).” According to a Gallup poll, “53 percent of voters say Obama bears at least some of the blame for a struggling economy with 24 parent saying Obama bears a great deal of blame.”
The latest poll numbers from Bloomberg put President Obama’s ‘job approval’ rating at 45 percent — a record low meaning a few more points in the wrong direct and the presidency would become a complete failure.
The 44th president of the United States is becoming more and more dependent on admirals and generals fighting in foreign lands for some desperately needed brownie points at home. Can the generals deliver?
The truth is that American generals have been at war in Afghanistan for 9 years and 352 days. The truth is that the generals have spent $20 billion on air-conditioning. The truth is that a dozen heavily armed Taliban managed to reach the US Embassy and engaged Nato troops for 20 hours. The truth is that American generals are up against a war of attrition that they cannot win. The other truth is that everyone in Afghanistan is fighting to get the foreign occupiers out — and that includes Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, Islamic Jihad Union, Hezb-e-Islami Khalis, the East Turkistan Islamic Movement and the Haqqani Network.
Mulla Mohammed Omar, the ‘leader of the faithful’, is actually the top Taliban leader.
According to a report by the Long War Journal, the top ‘rahbari shura’ has four regional military shuras and a total of 10 committees. The military shura responsible for southern and western Afghanistan is led by Hafez Majid. The other regional military shuras are led by Mulla Abdul Zakir and Siraj Haqqani.
The committees including the military committee, the ulema council, finance, political affairs, culture and information, interior affairs, prisoners and refugees, education, recruitment and the repatriation committees are led by Mulla Nasir, Maulvi Abdul Ali, Gul Agha, Maulvi Abdul Kabir, Amir Khan, Mulla Abdul Jalil, Maulvi Ahmad Jan, Mulla Ustad Mohammad and Mulla Abdul Zakir.
To be certain, the Haqqanis are a part of the entire guerrilla infrastructure — the infrastructure being much much bigger than the part. And the infrastructure, with time on its side, is wearing down the Americans slow and steady.
Obama is short on time. The 2012 Iowa Caucuses are scheduled for February 6, 2012, a mere five months down the road. The 2012 Democratic National Convention is scheduled to take place during the week of September 3, 2012. The 2012 presidential election is scheduled for November 6.
American generals are misleading their president into believing that the Haqqanis are keeping the generals from boosting Obama’s job approval ratings. It’s the war of attrition. Remember; ‘imagination is one weapon in the war against reality’.
Source: The News