Afghanistan - Who Is Doing The Thinking?

Obama announces a moderate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, less than 10% of the total number, in an expression of caution which confirms him as a rabid moderate as we have said on this site many times. His moderation in this instance is tinged with dithering in the light of the conflicting advice of his perpetually incompetent military advisers. David Cameron said recently of his military advisers 'you do the fighting and we'll do the talking'. But who in the UK or America is doing the thinking? Certainly not the bumptious securocrats with their Powerpoint charts who have failed, failed and failed again. Who is challenging these clowns?

In summary, Obama essentially announced success, lectured Afghanistan on its responsibilities to secure its territory, and noted upcoming troop withdrawals.

Anyone who remembers (in these attention-deficit times) past U.S. wars abroad has heard similar statements before, but I doubt they've heard what Obama said before: that the U.S. is "not an empire."

That's surely news to dozens of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, which have had their leaders chosen, armed or replaced on American whims.

The Taliban is not weakening at a time when America is. Obama's votes next year are rooted in the domestic economy, not in Helmland which most Americans have never heard of. Hopefully when he is re-elected he will have the confidence and the mandate to kick the generals out of the Oval Room with their Powerpoint claptrap and start to look at a practical approach to the rundown of the American empire. Because that's what he is presiding over.