Politics mixed with military matters makes a heady cocktail
One of the biggest mistakes made by the Obama Administration was to announce date of withdrawal of US troops from Pakistan. It emboldened the enemy and demoralised the NATO forces.
PRESIDENT BARACK Obama is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States of America. While addressing the servicemen he mentions this fact with great aplomb. He is holding this high military post ex-officio. It means the control of the civil administration on the military. It, however, does not mean that he is a military strategist or a knowall in matters military. Of course, he has many advisors, who are military generals and they advise him on defence matters before he makes a decision. Of late some defence decisions made by President Obama did not go well with the rank and file of the military. His sacking of General McChrystal, the commanding general in Afghanistan, was rather childish. It came in the wake of some off the cuff comments made by General's aides sitting on the bar stool after a few drinks. Perhaps the remarks were purported to be from the general himself. Since they found a place in print and the whole world came to know that the President had a clown as an advisor, the President fired the General to assert his superiority. Perhaps, a dressing down in the Oval office of the White House would have met the ends of justice. Legally speaking, a Reprimand would have sufficed. Anyway, the whole episode did not paint the President in good light. Now we proceed to Afghanistan. The top ranking officers and troops needed an additional force to overcome the challenge thrown by Taliban. President Obama took hell of a long time in making a decision. Eventually, when he made the decision, it was like giving with one hand and taking away with the other. Although Obama does not go to a particular church in Washington DC to pray every Sunday, but he may be familiar with a sentence. "The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away". So obama ordered a surge in troops to the tune of 30,000 and simultaneously announced a schedule of withdrawal from Afghanistan beginning July 2011. The surge has not yet been fully implemented on ground. It has been done partially and that too in a shilly-shally way. ENEMY EMBOLDENED The moment President of the United States of America announced a schedule of withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban knew that the Supreme Commander had lost the war on Terror in his mind. His generals losing it on the ground was just a question of time. The President's unmilitary-like decision demoralised the rank and file of the NATO forces. They were now not mentally prepared to take a risk in battle that would cost life. Why lose life when the war is lost and the withdrawal has been ordered by the Commander-in-Chief himself. President Obama indeed committed a Himalayan blunder by making a public announcement of withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. Whenever the military history of the American=Taliban War in Afghanistan will be written, objective historians would blame Obama for losing the war when there was a chance to win. The Man in the White House suffers from inferiority complex and is unable to remain focussed on the issue at hand. No less a person than General McChrystal himself found the President lacking the singleness of purpose while discussing the Afghan war. One wonders whether his Islamic background has something to do with his attitude to the Afghan war on the Taliban. It is President Obama, who sanctioned a fabulous military and financial aid package to Pakistan. The whole world knows that Pakistan is a part of the problem and can never be a part of the solution. The US aid given to Pakistan has all along been used against India. Pakistan had nourished, nurtured, trained, armed and equipped the Islamist terrorists called the Taliban on its own soil. How can the same Pakistan with the same Islamic-terror mindset exterminate the Taliban? Whatever little they did to fight against the Islamist terror was an eyewash. Their claim of pursuing the terrorists is a hogwash. Pakistan's top administrative and military echelon knows where the top terrorist Osama bin-Laden is hiding but they are reluctant to share this information with the United States, leave alone handing the fugitive from law to face justice and finally his nemesis. As I have pointed out earlier in my different articles and I reiterate that the Pakistan Army, including the Chief General kayani, treat the Taliban as Brothers with a capital B. The Pakistan Army expects the Taliban to protect its flanks when it goes to war with India. Indeed, it is a silly decision of the Obama Administration to give massive aid to Pakistan. David Cameron, Prime Minister of Uk has called a spade a spade by saying that Pakistan must stop training terrorists on its soil and exporting terror to other countries What Cameron said was the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth. May God help the Obama Administration to see the writing on the wall and read it. It is hoped that it will make a wise decision to pursue the war and revise its time table of withdrawal of troops.
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