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Now that the decision has been made to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, few seem either pleased or optimistic. That would include columnist Francois Sergent of France’s Liberation, who writes in part:
“He can no longer attribute everything to the disastrous heritage of his predecessor. From Jerusalem to Islamabad, the diplomacy of Bush has been a failure, a mixture of arrogance and incompetence. Afghanistan is a textbook case. Obama was right to revisit this policy of failure. But nothing says that sending reinforcements will make possible the elusive victory.
“As for the Afghans themselves, they are as poor and as far away as ever from schools, roads or hospitals, which might convince them of the merits of a Western intervention. They know that foreigners come and go in this cemetery of empires, whether Greek, English, Russian, American or French today. By dint of his hesitation between an exit strategy and a stronger commitment of troops, Obama has convinced most Afghans and Pakistanis that one day he, too, will abandon their countries.”
By Francois Sergent
Translated By Sandrine Ageorges
December 3, 2009
France – Liberation – Original Article (French)
A year after his election, Barack Obama has become answerable for his actions. He can no longer attribute everything to the disastrous heritage of his predecessor.
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