Biden sobre Afganistán

El cable -de la embajada de EEUU en SCL- cuyo extracto copio a continuación, fue "creado" el 2009-04-03 y reproduce lo conversado en la ciudad de Viña del Mar, entre Joseph Biden y Gordon Brown. He extraído sólo los párrafos que se refieren a Afganistán y que me parecen muy importantes y que explican muy bien la situación. La opinión del Vicepresidente norteamericano sobre Afganistán, es, sin duda muy importante para Alemania.

Gracias a Dios, no sólo hay "copuchas" y comentarios pintorescos en los cables estadounidenses, sino también, un buen análisis...

PS: Si, después de esta publicanción, me eliminan el blog, nos vemos en Twitter ;)

The Obama administration will not make an open-ended commitment to building freedom and democracy in Afghanistan because it is not realistic. Second, there is no real possibility of defeating Al Qaida without also dealing with Pakistan. Third, he recognized that the United States cannot solve the problem on its own. The whole world needed to engage.

Vice President Biden said he worried that NATO countries in Europe underestimated the threat from the region and viewed the problem as an economic development issue rather than a security issue, despite the fact that Afghan opium is primarily exported to Europe and Europe has been the victim of several terrorist attacks originating from the region. Vice President Biden described the complex nature of the security problem in Afghanistan, commenting that &besides the demography, geography and history of the region, we have a lot going for us.

Vice President Biden noted that the current U.S. commitment of 63,000 troops to Afghanistan is the result of a vigorous internal policy debate and would not be sustainable politically for more than two years without visible signs of progress. After two years, the extraordinary cost of maintaining a robust military presence in Afghanistan would make additional commitment increasingly difficult. After Afghan elections the Administration intends to review the situation again. Currently there is little capacity for the Afghan government to execute many of the functions of government. In many areas of the country, local officials have close to no knowledge of how to govern or even basic knowledge of payroll or budget. Part of the reason the Taliban is strengthening is since the Taliban has the local capacity to settle basic disputes quickly while central government courts can take six to eight months to process a case.

Karzai government was not realistic. New policy towards the Taliban should reflect the reality of the Afghan government's lack of capacity. Our policy should first aim to stabilize the urban areas and surrounding rural communities and then seek to exploit divisions within the Taliban, co-opting moderate elements rather than simply defeating militarily all elements of the Taliban.

Vice President Biden noted that the United States wants to empower the UN and wants active European participation in resolving the threats in Pakistan and Afghanistan. With the exception of the UK and a few others, very few Europeans are taking action. Germany completely dropped the ball on police training but NATO countries should continue to provide assistance that is within their capacity to deliver.