Don't they look Happy ?

I forget what we may have been invited to focus on around July 20, 2010.  But it apparently wasn't the International Donor Conference on Afghanistan in Kabul that week. 

Hillary Clinton and Ban Ki-Moon were there, as were Richard Holbrooke, and representatives from either forty or seventy countries (depending on who's reporting the story).

But the outcome of the meeting earned barely a blip on the news radar.  Are people just tired of the war and the shifting timetables for the 'beginnings' of troop draw-down?  Do they mean anything?  Gates and Petraeus say different things than the President; are the dates designed to soothe us, as the 'costs in blood and treasure' mount?  As Americans (not to mention NATO allies) turn away from support for the war?  As 100 Congresspeople voted to de-fund it recently?

Or will this Conference Communique serve as the Official Guideline?  Here's the gist of the memo the Christian Science Monitor was leaked; it appears it was ratified and signed, from what I can tell from the pdf of the final document:

 "It says the "international community" supports the notion that "the Afghan National Security Forces should lead and conduct military operations in all provinces by the end of 2014."

In an interview last week, Afghanistan's national security adviser, Rangin Dadfar Spanta, said 2014 was a realistic date for the country to take over responsibility for its own security and said it was likely the international force would be cut down to just trainers that year.

And from CNN World: 

"The participants also discussed aid for the country and agreed to channel at least 50 percent of all donor money directly into the Afghan government's budget.

In her speech, Clinton said that while the transition to Afghan control of security could not be put off indefinitely, the United States' involvement in the country will continue. Too many nations, she said, have suffered too many losses to see Afghanistan slide backward.

"We know the road ahead will not be easy," she said. "Citizens of many nations represented here, including my own, wonder whether success is even possible - and, if so, whether we all have the commitment to achieve it. We will answer these questions with our actions. "

 Well, bilgewater; it looks like this war may be stretching from nine to thirteen years if this is what's really on the drawing board: the plasticity of the endgame.  And we have been told how poorly the troop training has gone after nine long years; and that the corruption is flowing, and baskets of money are being passed around to anyone who says they'll fight the Taliban.

And the Summer Offensive in Kandahar has yet to begin. 

Just for some comic relief, NPR has this up, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking, then more:

 "Iran was here today because of the simple and avoidable [sic] fact that it is a neighbor with long-standing cultural and historical connections," she said. "We were expecting them to be here.

We believe it is important for all of Afghanistan's neighbors to play a constructive role in the future of Afghanistan. We'll have to wait and see what Iran is willing to do. We're in a post-sanctions environment.

Amb. Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, joined Clinton at the conference.

During Clinton's speech, while she was talking about the 2014 timeline, Holbrooke began to talk to someone behind her, NPR's Jackie Northam reports. Mid-sentence, Clinton turned around and said, "Excuse me, Richard, I'm trying to talk, thank you very much."

According to Northam, "He apologized and looked chastened."

Meanwhile, from today's Foreign Policy Magazine:

NATO airstrikes yesterday reportedly killed over two dozen Afghan civilians in two separate incidents in the eastern province of Nangarhar, after a helicopter struck a car carrying a flood victim and his family, and an airstrike hit a compound from which NATO forces were reportedly taking fire.  Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into the deaths, which occurred less than a day after ISAF Commander Gen. David Petraeus issued rules restricting the use of airstrikes against structures (Reuters). And in Nangarhar's capital Jalalabad, many music stores are shutting down after a stepped-up Taliban intimidation campaign (Guardian).