Second US war in Pashtunistan begins

Obama goes to war immediately

18 August 2010 | 17:01 Code : 3133 Editorial
A note By Morad Veisi
Obama goes to war immediately
Barack Obama is known as an anti-war president-elect. But believe it or not, he supports a certain war and has given his green light for its beginning. This change in US foreign policy happened just hours before he got elected as US president. Gen.David Petraeus, the central commander of US troops in the Middle East, went to Islam Abad and Kabul to start the second war on Al-Qaeda and Taliban. He was carrying Obama’s message aiming to less concentration of troops on Iraq and more concentration on Pashtunistan to end the incomplete 2001 war on Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Obama believes that the unfinished 2001 war on Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and starting a new war on Iraq was practically the reason behind Al-Qaeda and Taliban reinforcement. In such a way, the current threats of Taliban and terrorism are considered as the results of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld incompetence and ignorance in ending Afghanistan war.  
Now that Obama is the US president, it is time for less concentration on Iraq and more concentration on Afghanistan. Military men like Gen. Petraeus in whom Obama confides, believe that this second war on Taliban and Al-Qaeda requires a return to defensive-military strategies of the US known as the necessity of "non-engagement in simultaneous wars". Prior to simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, this was one of the basic principles to be followed by US armed forces and military. So this time again the pressure on US military in Iraq should be less in order to win the war on Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Petraeus’s trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan and his meetings with high political and military officials on both countries show that he wants to use the same Iraq successful strategy against Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Petraeus believes in simultaneous use of diplomatic interactions and social and economic actions as precludes to military action. He also believes in massive but short-time use of military in frontlines.
Petraeus has understood the fact that the mere reliance on military strategies in Obama’s plan would not be successful. So he has decided to persuade Pakistani state and military to real cooperation with the US in order to tackle Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Pakistani soil and its Pashtun regions.
In fact, Obama’s and Petraeus’s strategy is controlling Taliban and Al-Qaeda via controlling their logistic, spiritual and military supporters.
Despite the fact that in recent months Bush and Mc Cain were known by their war mongering rhetoric and policies and Obama was known for his anti-war positions, it seems that Obama is willing to support the second war on Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Pashtunistan. The war is going to be commanded by Gen. Petraeus.