Grim Predictions for Afghanistan Surge

Flikr photo by zedwards used under a Creative Commons license.   Karin von Hippel appeared on Fox News last night to comment on the authorization of an additional 17,000 troops for Afghanistan by President Obama.  

I think these 17,000 troops are a way of saying we need to push back the Taliban, especially in the South.  We need to demonstrate that we can defeat them.  They think they are winning; they are not necessarily winning, but they are also not loosing. 

The troops really can be used in a very smart way.  They don’t need to be fighting all the time.  That isn’t necessarily the way to go about it and I think we have learned that.  I think we have come a very long way with out military.