Pipes.

Editor,

Mr. Obama stated that the Taliban "seized control" of Afghanistan after the Russians left, but he failed to mention that they were helped in that effort by the ISI in Pakistan, who are the linchpin in the U.S. strategy to rout the Taliban today.

Mr. Obama also mentioned that the Taliban fled to Pakistan when they were driven from power by the American military and the Northern Alliance in 2002, but he failed to mention that they were helped in that effort by the ISI in Pakistan, who are the linchpin in the U.S. strategy to rout the Taliban today.

Pakistan is dealing from both sides of the deck, and American military planners know it. But they have no alternative other than to rely on this two-faced and unreliable partner in their fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Assuming that war in Afghanistan is even the correct policy, which it isn't, primarily because the insurgency in Afghanistan is inflamed by the American presence and the correct solution to the Afghans' internal political problems is a loya jurga -- a traditional meeting of elders and tribal leaders -- that includes the Taliban, the Pakistani ISI will always and inevitably undermine whatever military success the Americans are able to achieve.

It is heartbreaking to watch the leadership in my United States throw away precious American blood and treasure on yet another stupid errand that can only end in humiliation and defeat. Our government is a handmaiden to the corporations, and our president is the face the corporations have hired to soothe us with reassuring words of withdrawal -- even as he escalates the war -- so that Caspian oil will flow through pipes across Afghanistan.

We live in cynical and ugly times. The corporations become more powerful every day with bigger and bigger mergers, and unemployed working class kids are shipped off to fight their wars for them while politicians fill the air with highfalutin nonsense to convince us it's all right.

re: "Obama Adds Troops, but Maps Exit Plan" (12/2/2009)