third back seat to these domestic governing issues? it is the gorilla in the room. we are throwing billions of dollars month after month after afghanistan and iraq. the kouptdry is losing confidence we are going to get out. when is this going to happen? i think the president would serve his administration very well and future aspirations to get re-elected to be strong with the american people and tell them, look, we are getting out. we are going to cut the military budget. you are talking about $58 billion. mr. gates said one of the things that is blowing the pentagon budget up is health care costs. they have an array of problems. a lot of it has to do with where we are. we have no exit strategy. we think we do but we are not executing it the way the american people want it. this has turned against the president. this has become a problem for the president. this is something he campaigned on, he was going to get
firsand for most the people do not want them. they used to run the country and they did it with an iron fist and controlled every aspect of life in afghanistan and the people do not want any part of that. that is good news, second, we got the right amount of forces there to make a difference and we are in places we have never been before. we have taken territory away from them. that will continue interest the spring and summer. and i think, then, we will see significant progress. dave: perhaps the most important element is the exit strategy. some say it was 2011 but that will not come close and whether it is 2011 or the now rumored 2014, can we win by telling them when we will leave? guest: well, i think the lisbon agreement, the nato agreement that took place a few months ago that 2014 is target date is very reasonable giving us plenty of opportunity to make a difference, stand up the
this is not a successful strategy. mr. khan, what would a successful strategy look like? for me, it should be talking to all the stakeholders. there should be an immediate cease fire. you can t have dialogue and at the same time military action. unfortunately, this policy is dictated by the security personnel, by the generals. it s not a civilian-backed or political backed policy in afghanistan. the key issue is afghanistan. if you have peace in afghanistan, if you can have a cease fire, get people around the table, talk about, you know, when there s an exit strategy, maybe have muslim forces, peacekeeping forces to have a government of consensus. it is the only way to go about in afghanistan. the way the current policy could just go on and on. if the united states wants to have that discussion, those
things are getting worse for this country. i think there needs to be a change of strategy. this is not a successful strategy. mr. khan, what would a successful strategy look like? for me, it should be talking to all the stakeholders. there should be an immediate cease fire. you can t have dialogue and at the same time military action. unfortunately, this policy is dictated by the security personnel, by the generals. it s not a civilian-backed or political backed policy in afghanistan. the key issue is afghanistan. if you have peace in afghanistan, if you can have a cease fire, get people around the table, talk about, you know, when there s an exit strategy, maybe have muslim forces, peacekeeping forces to have a government of consensus. it is the only way to go about in afghanistan. the way the current policy could just go on and on. if the united states wants to
strategy. mr. khan, what would a successful strategy look like? for me, it should be talking to all the stakeholders. there should be an immediate cease fire. you can t have dialogue and at the same time military action. unfortunately, this policy is dictated by the security personnel, by the generals. it s not a civilian-backed or political backed policy in afghanistan. the key issue is afghanistan. if you have peace in afghanistan, if you can have a cease fire, get people around the table, talk about, you know, when there s an exit strategy, maybe have muslim forces, peacekeeping forces to have a government of consensus. it is the only way to go about in afghanistan. the way the current policy could just go on and on. if the united states wants to