It should not be surprising that the Pentagon is attempting to maximize it killing power in any way possible without the resort to massive escalation in troops. One reason is that escalation of the Afghan war is not popular politically. A recent CNN poll indicated that 57% of those Americans polled currently oppose the war there. Another Washington Post/ABC News poll also indicated the war is unpopular despite Obama's claims to sell the war as a "necessary war needed to defend Americans from "terrorists.
Another reason is that McChrystal needs more combat forces to implement the U.S. Afghanistan counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy. This COIN strategy calls for taking villages from the Taliban and then holding the ground taken. But this strategy is troop intensive and all U.S. military "experts agree that the U.S. does not have nearly enough of its own troops, or allied troops, to successfully implement the strategy over the long-term.
But regardless of this new "streamlining strategy, the fact is that any escalation of Obama's war will only mean increasing the death and destruction brought to the Afghan people. This war which began in October of 2001 was not "necessary then and is not "necessary now to the American people or the people of the world. It is an imperialist war that is only "necessary to the imperialist ruling class headed now by President Obama. What is necessary is that we mobilize people in their millions to demand an end to this war. That is a necessity that demands that each and every one of us join in this effort.
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