Martha Coakley on Afghanistan

Scott Brown has blasted Martha Coakley for being naive and uniformed about the situation in Afghanistan and has extrapolated that to mean she's soft on terrorism and isn't concerned about protecting America from terrorists. The recent death of several CIA operatives in a "terrorist" bombing is sited as proof of that, but is it really?

Coakley is actaully spot on correct, but could should have been more specific in her wording. What she was really refering to was Al Qaeda who export terorism around the Globe and not the terrorists who operate strictly within Afghamistan, and that makes a big difference.

Al Qaeda's presence in Afghanistan at this time if greatly reduced. They have moved on to other base of operations, like Yemen and Somalia. We went into Afghanistan to get Al Qaeda, not the Taliban. Taliban is the main enemy in Afghanistan and does not pose a direct threat to the US. Their interest is in wresting back control of the country, not on exporting terrorists to attack America directly.

It has been suggested that if the US were to abandon Afghaniston, and the "Taliban" were to take over again, knowing that Al Qaeda was the reason why we invaded Afghanistan, they would be reluctant to allow them back into the country. Furthermore, even thought they might want to get retribution against the US, they would know that to do so would result in a renewed assault upon Afghanistan.

Taliban does not pose a direct threat to  America but does engage in terrorist attacks against American troops( and CIA operatives) in Afghanistan. They are part of the insurgency against the occupying forces there.

The Taliban itself is not the organization that it once was. Even while there may be as many fighters as ever, many of these  fighters are not actually dedicated to the Taliban cause. Many fighters are just the regional warlords fighting to regain and maintain control over their villages. Many others are fighting for the Taliban against their will, their families and villages threatened with death if they don't fight with the Taliban. Others are just desperate. They have no way of making a living, cannot survive in Taliban controled areas, so they forced to join the fight. They are in the battle but are not actually "Taliban."

Many of the insurgents in Afghanistan may engage in acts of terrorism in their fight against the occupiers, but do not actually represent a threat against America. Their mission is not to destroy America, their mission is to drive us out of their country.

So Martha Coakley was right. It is Scott Brown who seems to me missinformed and naive.