re: #709 lincolntf Well actually - although I hate to have to give Obama credit for anything, those Aid Assistance programs - as little as any of us know about them could really be a game-breaker over there.
First rule of counter-guerrilla warfare is to deny the guerrilla’s the assistance of the local population (in Vietnam, that was done by making entire villages - some of ‘em centuries old, MOVE to “safer” locations) but in Pakistan/Afghanistan he could be right. IF the folks there see the U.S. as genuinely helping them, then they are less likely to help Al-Q and the Taliban.