tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16816866.post7562721486156605417..comments2024-02-29T02:10:56.878-08:00Comments on J O S H U A P U N D I T: Insanity: U.S. Turns Over Custody Of Thousands Of Taliban Fighters To AfghansFreedom Fighterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13649470110087808596noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16816866.post-4429927930491724202012-09-26T12:53:31.773-07:002012-09-26T12:53:31.773-07:00When confronting the Taliban and other Islamic ter...When confronting the Taliban and other Islamic terrorist enemies, at least two things have to be understood. 1.) The Taliban and other Islamic terrorist enemies pose a far greater threat to America than either Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan ever did or likely ever could have. 2.) While the threat posed by Islamic terrorists is many times greater than the threat posed by the enemies of WWII ever was or likely ever could have been, it is not the same enemy. Furthermore the USA of the second decade of the <br />21st century is not the same nation that it was in the early 1940s. As such our strategies for defeating or at least neutralizing this enemy will likely be very different than the strategies we used to win WWII.<br /><br />Until these realities are recognized, it seems unlikely we will be able to develop a coherent strategy to defeat this enemy. <br /><br />With these basic facts in mind this particular decision does not seem to be a particularly good one. UNLESS it is part of an agreement whereby American forces and equipment will be granted safe passage out of Afghanistan and through Pakistan in an orderly fashion out of the region all together. If this is so, it might be a worthwhile agreement, however, there would remain the matter of how to ensure the Afghans and the Pakistanis live up to their end of the agreement. <br /><br />Once our forces are withdrawn, we can deploy them to positions that make sense for our national security needs, such as along our borders and off of our coasts. Also, develop all of our own oil and gas reserves and build more refineries. This would give us some leverage when dealing with OPEC and other aligned nations. Right now we have none. Also, in time, we may be able to find alternative sources of oil for those who rely heavily on Iran and Russia for their oil supplies. This might serve to weaken the influence of these enemy nations. <br /><br />We can win this and good outcomes for our nation are still possible, even if they are not probable at this point but the window to achieve such outcomes is rapidly closing. In order to do this we MUST recognize the reality of the situation we are in and the dangers posed by this enemy.B.Posternoreply@blogger.com