All things Middle East related

[SunnySide]

read an op-ed from Condelezza Rice (sp?) and she mentioned the South Korea approach.

Condense our presence to kabul and surrounding area (S Korea) then maintain a US military presence there, allow us to keep that strategically located air base open and basically keep 25k plus troops there indefinitely like we do in S Korea. That way we have a hub strategically right in the middle of the ME, have a strong ally in Afghanistan, would allow the women and children in Kabul and surrounding area a chance at freedom and give them time to strengthen their democracy. She said it took s korea longer than 20 years to figure out their democracy and they were more advanced than afghanistan.

We were never going to win over the rural areas.

Of course, this is hindsight and would require us to take this approach 20 years ago .. when the Condelleza Rice's of the world were running the show.