HOLBRROKE: "AFGHANISTAN TOUGHER THAN IRAQ"

AFTER ONE WEEK ON THE JOB, AND ALREADY RICHARD HOLBROOKE HAS ALL THE ANSWERS. HEH.

BBC:

US President Barack Obama's envoy to Afghanistan has said that winning the conflict there will be "much tougher" than in Iraq.

Richard Holbrooke told a conference in Munich: "I have never seen anything like the mess we have inherited."

Nato defence ministers at the security conference differed on whether the focus should be military or civilian.

The architect of the US surge in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, urged measures for Afghanistan similar to those in Iraq.

He warned Afghanistan was likely to get harder before things improved and called for a future change in tactics.

... Ambassador Holbrooke told the conference that Washington would be working under the principle that Pakistan and others in the region would have to be part of the solution to Afghanistan's problems.

"What is required in my view is new ideas, better coordination within the US government, better coordination with our Nato allies and other concerned countries, and the time to get it right," he said.

The envoy, who is to embark on a tour of the region soon, also said: "It is like no other problem we have confronted, and in my view it's going to be much tougher than Iraq.

"It is going to be a long, difficult struggle."

A LONG DIFFICULT STRUGGLE. HMM ...

• THIS COMING FROM THE SCUM WHO SAID THE SURGE WOULD FAIL AND WHO WANTED TO RETREAT FROM IRAQ.
• NOW, THEY'RE SINGING A DIFFERENT TUNE.
• SCUM.
• WHAT, NO TIMETABLE RICHARD!?!?!?
• SCUM. TOTAL SCUM.

MORE HERE AN HERE.