Whither Afghanistan? Defense and foreign affairs in the hands of Democrats

Obama’s Afghanistan Withdrawal  "Nation-building at home might be the President’s ideal job, but he has a responsibility abroad. As Curtis notes, the President’s decision to rapidly withdraw from Afghanistan will “further discourage Pakistan from cracking down on the Taliban leadership that finds sanctuary on its soil” and “reinforce Islamabad’s calculation that the U.S. is losing resolve in the fight in Afghanistan and thus encourage Pakistani military leaders to continue to hedge on support to the Taliban to protect their own national security interests.”"

Abandon all this?

From STRATFOR: Obama's Afghanistan Plan and the Realities of Withdrawal  "One of these will be the impact on not just situational awareness on the ground but intelligence collection and particularly exploitable relationships with local political factions. As the withdrawal becomes more and more undeniable and ISAF pulls back from key areas, the human relationships that underlie intelligence sharing will be affected and reduced. This is particularly the case in places where the Taliban are strongest, as villagers there return to a strategy of hedging their bets out of necessity and focus on the more enduring power structure, which in many areas will clearly be the Taliban."
This article reprinted with permission from STRATFOR

Afghanistan, Obama, and Revolution  "President Obama found a way to slip in, during the second half of his speech, comments pertaining “clean energy,” Libya, and support of Revolutionaries. The latter half of his speech contributed to many full e-mail inboxes."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/bobgorrell

Obama Flinches   "A front-page New York Times article reported how the Taliban had been reduced to tiny bands and how it had failed so far to regain its footing despite desperately trying to fight back. The boys in the Quetta Shura must be delighted at the opening President Obama is handing them." National Review

MICHAEL RAMIREZ,NRO

Alinsky Does Afghanistan   "Obama's radical inspiration would have loved his speech on the war."

Alinksi Does Afghanistan, Part II  "What I said 18 months ago remains true today: Obama’s plan “would be preposterous if it were actually a national-security strategy. But it’s not. It’s a political strategy.” It doesn’t need to be coherent or effective. It needs to get Obama through 2012."

Michael Yon: Afghanistan is making undeniable progress, but it could all unravel "The bottom line is that there are unmistakable signs of progress in Afghanistan, and Gen. David Petraeus is about to make a very important recommendation.
"His judgment should be trusted".