Seven more Americans wounded in Afghanistan...
[WASHINGTON (AP) The top U.S. diplomat in Kabul and a campaign adviser to President Barack Obama said Sunday the U.S. isn't rethinking its commitment to Afghanistan after violent protests left more than two dozen people dead, including two American shot inside a government ministry.
U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Robert Gibbs, Obama's former press secretary, said they believe Afghan President Hamid Karzai's fragile government could collapse and the Taliban would regain power if the U.S. were to walk away.
"This is not the time to decide that we're done here," said Crocker. "We have got to redouble our efforts. We've got to create a situation in which al-Qaida is not coming back."
Added Gibbs: "What the president's trying to do now is get us to a point where we can hand off the security of Afghanistan to the Afghans and that we can bring our troops home."
Their comments echoed arguments made by the Bush administration at the height of violence in Iraq, even as popular support for that war was waning. As in Iraq, American voters are questioning the utility of the decade-long Afghan conflict and whether a stable government there would be worth the loss in U.S. blood and treasure....]
http://news.yahoo.com/us-says-stead...BzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3
[WASHINGTON (AP) The top U.S. diplomat in Kabul and a campaign adviser to President Barack Obama said Sunday the U.S. isn't rethinking its commitment to Afghanistan after violent protests left more than two dozen people dead, including two American shot inside a government ministry.
U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Robert Gibbs, Obama's former press secretary, said they believe Afghan President Hamid Karzai's fragile government could collapse and the Taliban would regain power if the U.S. were to walk away.
"This is not the time to decide that we're done here," said Crocker. "We have got to redouble our efforts. We've got to create a situation in which al-Qaida is not coming back."
Added Gibbs: "What the president's trying to do now is get us to a point where we can hand off the security of Afghanistan to the Afghans and that we can bring our troops home."
Their comments echoed arguments made by the Bush administration at the height of violence in Iraq, even as popular support for that war was waning. As in Iraq, American voters are questioning the utility of the decade-long Afghan conflict and whether a stable government there would be worth the loss in U.S. blood and treasure....]
http://news.yahoo.com/us-says-stead...BzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3
