New York Times — U.S. to Protect Populous Afghan Areas, Officials Say
At what point does dithering become stalling?
It’s already the deadliest month for U.S. forces since the November 2001 invasion of Afghanistan—eight more GIs were killed in bombings Tuesday to bring the total to 55.
Taliban militants brazenly attacked the UN compound in downtown Kabul and across the border in Pakistan, suspected Talibani killed at least 90 people with a marketplace bomb on the day that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived to try to soothe anti-American sentiments.
It is in this environment that writers Thom Shanker, Peter Baker, and Helene Cooper tell us that aside from knowing the kind of surge that’s likely (10,000 to 15,000 more troops), the next version of the Obama Afghan strategy is far enough along that political team at the White House to be leaking locations for their deployments.
We all know by now that the strategy is a hybrid of the Biden and McChrystal plans – a counter-insurgent operation, but only in some parts of the country and a drone-based, small footprint elsewhere.
But the president has declined to announce his intentions or start the process of requesting more troops, which will take time. He may be waiting for the Afghan elections, an agreement from NATO partners to send more police and civilians, for health care to get on solid footing on Congress, or some other political consideration. But whatever the case, holding out resources from a combat theater after you’ve already made up your mind to deploy them goes against the American military tradition.
“At the moment, the administration is looking at protecting Kabul, Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif, Kunduz, Herat, Jalalabad and a few other village clusters, officials said. The first of any new troops sent to Afghanistan would be assigned to Kandahar, the Taliban’s spiritual capital, seen as a center of gravity in pushing back insurgent advances.
But military planners are also pressing for enough troops to safeguard major agricultural areas, like the hotly contested Helmand River valley, as well as regional highways essential to the economy — tasks that would require significantly more reinforcements beyond the 21,000 deployed by Mr. Obama this year.”
Wall Street Journal — Reid’s Push for Public Option Creates New Barriers for Bill
The best thing for Harry Reid might be a liberal health bill that can’t pass the Senate. He would keep the moveon.org screamers and John Podesta’s zombified liberals at bay and wouldn’t have to be responsible for a bill that raised taxes and lowered the quality of care for the likely voters of Nevada.
Examiner colleague Susan Ferrechio looked at the thud with which Reid’s worst-of-both-worlds proposal landed in the Senate. No moderate was excited and at least one, Joe Lieberman, promised to join a filibuster.
Writers Janet Adamy, Patrick Yoest and Greg Hitt look ahead to all the other problems that await the bill in both chambers after Reid’s plan gets a Congressional Budget Office score late this week.
“The House bill is largely complete, except for how the public plan would pay doctors and hospitals. Liberals have proposed rates that are about 5% higher than those paid by Medicare. That would be less than private insurers typically pay, and doesn’t appear to have enough votes to pass. Another option is to allow the government to negotiate the rates it pays providers, which could result in higher payments.
Besides the public plan, House Democrats have yet to reach an agreement on how the bill would address abortion. Democrats say no federal dollars will be used to pay for abortions, but the details of that provision have caused some antiabortion Democrats to threaten to withhold support.”
Wall Street Journal — Gloom Spreads on Economy, but GOP Doesn’t Gain
The latest Journal/NBC polls shows that since last month the president’s job approval is steady at 51 percent, a small turnaround in support for a troop surge in Afghanistan (from 44 to 47 percent), and consistent, slim disapproval for the president’s health proposal (38 percent favor, 42 percent oppose).
But the big news is that Americans became sharply pessimistic about the economy last month and about the government’s ability to do something about it.
Jonathan Weisman has the details:
“Fifty-eight percent of those polled say the economic slide still has a ways to go, up from 52% in September and back to the level of pessimism expressed in July. Only 29% said the economy had “pretty much hit bottom,” down from 35% last month.
But a dark national view of how everybody in Washington is conducting the public’s business appears to be preventing Republicans from benefiting from concerns about the direction of the country or the Democrat-led government’s handling of the economy, as the minority party often does.
In fact, disapproval of the Republican Party actually has ticked upward, along with the public’s general pessimism. Asked which political party should control Congress after next year’s midterm elections, Democrats now hold a clear edge over the GOP, 46% to 38%, a month after the Republicans were nearly as popular. In September, the Democratic edge was 43% to 40%.”
New York Times — White House Steps Up Climate Efforts
The headline might more accurately read “White House steps up appearance of climate efforts.”
The future of the Barbara Boxer-John Kerry climate bill looks as bleak as an Arctic winter, so much so that it’s sponsors have decided to push a crazy version of the plan through Boxer’s environmental committee without any Republican or moderate Democratic votes. It’s a show intended to fire up her base in California but has no chance of actually passing a Senate mostly worried about jobs and the stagnant economy, not spending a trillion dollars on a problem about which Americans are increasingly skeptical.
Since there will be no climate bill and President Obama will go to the Kyoto II conference in Copenhagen in five weeks empty-handed and without the votes to ratify any substantial treaty with which he might return.
As a result, the administration (remember “the moment when the rise of our oceans began to slow?”) is trying to put the best face on the status quo.
“In Arcadia, Fla., Mr. Obama stood in the midst of the nation’s largest solar power generation array to highlight $3.4 billion in stimulus spending for projects to modernize the electric grid through projects across the country.
‘At this moment, there’s something big happening in America, when it comes to creating a clean-energy economy,’ Mr. Obama said. ‘But getting there will take a few more days like this one, and more projects like this one.’”
New York Times — Brother of Afghan Leader Is Said to Be on C.I.A. Payroll
It’s not surprising that the brother of Hamid Karzai has been a preferred contractor for the CIA – providing local goons and bases for operations. Nor is it any surprise that in a country sodden with opium that Ahmed Karzai has some unsavory associations.
What is surprising is that the CIA would give him up to writers Dexter Filkins, Mark Mazzetti and James Risen for a story about the Western influence on his brother’s regime and the endemic corruption of the region.
Is the Obama administration trying to hurt President Karzai before his runoff election? Is it part of the Kerry doctrine for Afghanistan that calls for only defending a county worthy of our help?
“In the interview in which he denied a role in the drug trade or taking money from the C.I.A., Ahmed Wali Karzai said he received regular payments from his brother, the president, for ‘expenses,’ but said he did not know where the money came from. He has, among other things, introduced Americans to insurgents considering changing sides. And he has given the Americans intelligence, he said. But he said he was not compensated for that assistance.
‘I don’t know anyone under the name of the C.I.A.,’ Mr. Karzai said. ‘I have never received any money from any organization. I help, definitely. I help other Americans wherever I can. This is my duty as an Afghan.’”
–To get Morning Must Reads in your inbox every weekday click here.
