Another really good article on Biden/Afghanistan from NYT:

[gateley]

Biden No Longer a Lone Voice on Afghanistan



By PETER BAKER
Published: October 13, 2009

WASHINGTON — A few hours after getting off a plane from America’s war zones, Joseph R. Biden Jr. slipped into a chair, shook off his jet lag and reflected on what he had seen. The situation in Iraq, he said, was much improved. In Pakistan, he said he saw encouraging signs.

Then he came to Afghanistan and shook his head.

“It has deteriorated significantly,” he said. “It’s going to be a very heavy lift.”

That was six days before Mr. Biden was sworn in as vice president in January, and just after he had met with President-elect Barack Obama, who had sent him on the fact-finding mission to figure out just what the new administration was inheriting. Mr. Biden’s assessment was even grimmer during his private meeting with Mr. Obama, according to officials.
From the moment they took office, Mr. Biden has been Mr. Obama’s in-house pessimist on Afghanistan, the strongest voice against further escalation of American forces there and the leading doubter of the president’s strategy. It was a role that may have been lonely at first, but has attracted more company inside the White House as Mr. Obama rethinks the strategy he unveiled just seven months ago.

rest of article....>>>>> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/world/14biden.html?_r=2&ref=politics

Edit - forgot the link!

[TwilightGardener]

1. Don't see a linky-dink. On edit--thanks!

[gateley]

2. Yeah, that's my favorite trick apparently. It's there now -- and worth following!

:hi:

[WheelWalker]

3. He's in touch with the pulse of the people. Ahead of the curve. K&R

:kick:

[yurbud]

4. If he started talked about the energy agenda in the region I'd be really impressed

Pipeline politics include Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran
http://professorsmartass.blogspot.com/2009/08/war-on-terror-shift-to-pakistan-over.html

This piece is also a good explanation for why we suddenly noticed there are terrorists in Pakistan even though it's been public knowledge that they were on the government payroll for years. Daniel Pearl arranged his meeting with the guys who ultimately killed him through Pakistani intelligence.

[gateley]

6. We didn't 'suddenly' notice there are terrorists in Pakistan, we've had a bead on

it for awhile. It was Bush who kept shoveling the money to Musharraf even though he knew it wasn't being used to 'fight the terrorists on our behalf'.

I remember Biden saying he knew that the money wasn't being distributed as agreed to, and he wanted to do something about it (this is when Bush was still in office.)

I'm not saying that oil isn't a motivating factor in most (all?) of our decisions, but I'm getting a sense that it's becoming less so. Let's hope.

[yurbud]

7. If we turned off the military tap, these companies would either die or be forced to

negotiate fairly with countries instead of calling in airstrikes to close the deal, which would be better for us in terms of less blowback and animosity toward us, which would mean even more savings on the military.

[PatSeg]

5. K&R