U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and his delegation depart from Cornwallis Park in Nova Scotia, Canada, after attending discussions on the approach to counter-insurgency as part of Afghanistan's Regional Command South, Nov. 21, 2008. DoD photo by Air Force Tech Sgt. Jerry Morrison From The U.S. Department Of Defense:
CORNWALLIS, Canada, Nov. 21, 2008 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates expressed confidence today that more troops being sent to Afghanistan’s Regional Command South will be sufficient to shore up security for Afghanistan’s elections in late September.
Gates, speaking at a joint conference with his counterparts whose countries provide 90 percent of the troops to RC-South, declared a successful presidential election one of the most important objectives in Afghanistan in the upcoming year.
The secretary spent the day here at a former Canadian military base conferring with defense ministers from Canada, Australia, Denmark, Estonia, the Netherlands, Romania and the United Kingdom about the situation in Afghanistan.
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My Comment: I am not so optimistic. With fill scale war in Pakistan's tribal regions, and with the Taliban controlling a good section of Afghanistan's countryside .... any elections will only be held in the major cities, thereby disenfranchising a good portion of the population and causing resentment from that quarter.
Let us hope that I am wrong.