Afghanistan War News Updates -- December 16, 2008

French paratroopers in Afghanistan on December 15, 2008. Afghanistan won commitments of additional aid and more troops from the international community in 2008, but a deadly Taliban insurgency, rampant crime and an unchecked drugs trade show no sign of abating. (AFP/Joel Saget)

Why The US Will Scale Down Its Goals
in Afghanistan -- Time Magazine

The Pentagon has made clear that the U.S. will leave Afghanistan when the ragtag Afghan security forces have been beefed up to the point at which they can keep the peace without help. "Significantly expanding [Afghanistan's national security forces] is, in fact, our exit strategy," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told U.S. troops in Kandahar last week. But that's a strategy that could leave U.S. forces in Afghanistan for quite some time to come. The economy of impoverished Afghanistan is unlikely, for the foreseeable future, to be able to sustain an army big enough to guarantee the country's security. And that's just one of several thorny issues likely to make success in Afghanistan harder to achieve than in Iraq — unless the U.S. scales back its ambitious goals for the country. Such a rethink may be in the cards, U.S. military officers say, as internal U.S. reviews and President-elect Barack Obama give the seven-year war a fresh look.

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More News On Afghanistan

No relief in sight for war-wracked Afghanistan -- Yahoo News/AFP
Violence in Afghanistan to worsen next year: Canadian general -- CBC
Bush Predicts Tough Fight Against Taliban -- Voice of America
‘Good Progress’ Made, Challenges Ahead in Afghanistan, Bush Says -- AFPS
British troop casualties rise in Afghanistan -- Yahoo News/Reuters
British military budget for Afghanistan to balloon: committee -- AFP
Cost of UK war in Afghanistan to rise 50 pct - report -- Reuters
Kabul shuts down foreign security firms -- Press TV
Afghanistan on brink of famine, aid agency warns -- National Post
Taliban Courts Filling Justice Vacuum In Afghanistan -- NPR
Groups ask U.S., NATO to help secure Afghanistan gravesite -- McClatchy
Why we’re failing in Afghanistan (Opinion) -- Colorado Independent
Afghanistan Today -- National Review opinion