Obama faces backlash over Afghanistan - Asia Times

Escalating a lost war is no longer popular no matter how much they try to scare us with Taliban Bogeymen.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KI17Df01.html

WASHINGTON - Growing skepticism among key Democratic lawmakers about the United States commitment to the war in Afghanistan is certain to pose one of the most difficult political challenges faced by President Barack Obama in his first year in office.

With the military apparently preparing to press for a significant increase in the number of US troops deployed to combat an increasingly effective Taliban insurgency, Obama, who recently called the conflict a "war of necessity", will soon be forced to decide whether to grant the request at the risk of alienating many in his own party.

In addition to the mounting casualties and war fatigue, the increasingly notorious corruption of the government of President Hamid Karzai and the widespread fraud apparently committed to secure his re-election have contributed to a distinct shift in public opinion over the past couple of months, a trend that appears to have accelerated in recent weeks.

A CNN poll taken late last month found that 57% of the public now opposes the war, up from 46% in April. According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Tuesday, only one-in-four respondents - and less than one-in-five self-identified Democrats - favor Mullen's appeal to send more troops to Afghanistan. Moreover, for the first time the percentage of those respondents who said they believed that winning in Afghanistan was essential for success in the "war on terrorism" fell to below 50%

The Taliban are the real deal -- murderous, irrational, hardline, intolerant. They threaten Pakistan as well as Afghanistan -- and the idea of the Taliban with access to nuclear weapons is a bit much.

Thinning them out for another year and then leaving sounds good to me.

happen overnight. Obama is doing his best to clear out the 8 long years of trash that was left when Bush left. What does Asia Times know about anything.