Capital suggestion ;Open letter to Obama

[niazikhan2]

Dr Farrukh Saleem

Dear President Obama,

Question 1: Sir, you have doubled the number of American troops in Afghanistan and, at the same time, given a withdrawal timeline beginning June 2011. The militants swiftly adapted and have now begun declining combat. Close to 80 per cent of marine casualties are now from roadside Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). How would you now define American victory when your Afghan opponents are simply declining combat?

Question 2: Sir, your Plan A is to transfer security duties to the Afghan National Police (ANP) and the Afghan National Army (ANA). Officers of ANP continue to fire at westerners and officers of ANA penetrated FOB Chapman killing seven CIA officers. What if Plan A fails? Admiral Mullen does not have a Plan B. General Petraeus does not have a Plan B and neither does General McCrystal. Do you have Plan B?

Question 3: Sir, 2010 is election year for America; 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 36 in the Senate and 38 gubernatorial elections. Your war, therefore, has a definite political time-line while your opponents have no time-line. Do you feel that time is on the side of your opponents?

Question 4: Sir, America wants to maintain stability in Pakistan and at the same time wants Pakistan to 'do more'. Aren't those mutually contradictory goals?

Question 5: Sir, Democrats have lost Massachusetts for the first time in half a century. Sir, what would happen to your agenda of 'change' if you loose your majority in the House in November 2010?

Question 6: Sir, the Afghan National Army is 80 per cent illiterate and America has been unable to recruit from the Pashtun belt. Sir, ANA, by any standard, is not a national army. Can the ANA ever be an effective partner?

Question 7: Sir, your opponents in Afghanistan are denying combat. Your opponents are fighting a war of exhaustion. Most American causalities are not from combat but from IEDs. How would the surge help? Wouldn't the surge provide your opponents with more targets?

Question 8: Sir, the Pakistan Army has deployed two infantry divisions in Swat. Pakistan Army's XI Corps, with both its divisions, is in South Waziristan. The Pakistan-India border is tense and the army is spread too thin. Who will then take on the Haqqani network?

Question 9: Sir, General McCrystal has a $1.5 billion special fund to buy Taliban and make them talk. What if the Taliban, brimming with the sweet smell of victory in the immediate future, take your money and wait for 2011?

Question 10: Sir, you won on an agenda of 'change'. Afghanistan has surely changed. In 2007, there were half a dozen Afghan provinces with shadow Taliban governors. In 2008, there were a dozen and last year 33 of the 34 provinces had shadow Taliban governors. Sir, how would this war end?

P.S. According to The Economist, Obama is "the man who fell to earth." According to Time magazine Obama's "agenda is on life support." Would the real Obama please stand up? I read somewhere, "sorry, but there is no real Obama. There never was and there never will be. The ultimate empty suit?"



The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com