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The Obama candidacy and the new consensus on Afghanistan

by wsws (reposted)
Monday, July 21, 2008 :The statements made by Barack Obama during his visit to Afghanistan over the weekend verify that his campaign for president is the mouthpiece for a significant section of the American ruling elite that is insisting on a shift in US policy in the Middle East and Central Asia. Far from proposing any retreat from militarism, Obama is arguing for a faster drawdown of troop numbers in Iraq and a reduction in tensions with Iran, only in order to facilitate a major escalation of US military operations in Afghanistan, potentially extending them into Pakistan.
In a lengthy interview with CBSs Lara Logan yesterday, Obama said the situation in Afghanistan was precarious and urgent. Global terrorist networks, he alleged, had sanctuary in the region and were financing themselves with the drug trade. He declared: I dont think there is any doubt that we were distracted [by the invasion of Iraq] from our efforts to hunt down Al Qaeda and the Taliban...

Obama told Logan: Theres starting to be a broad consensus that its time for us to withdraw some of our combat troops out of Iraq, [and] deploy them here in Afghanistan. And I think we have to seize that opportunity. Nows the time to do it... If we wait until the next administration, it could be a year before we get those additional troops on the ground here in Afghanistan. And I think that would be a mistake. I think the situation is getting urgent enough that weve got to start doing something now.

Obama repeated his calls for a build-up of forces in Afghanistan and for greater intervention inside Pakistan against anti-US militants

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