拉里·威尔克森参加了美国国家公共电台的“on Point”节目
William & Mary’s 劳伦斯威尔克森 talked with NPR’s “On Point” live Monday, September 21 about the push for more troops in Afghanistan. Wilkerson, the Harriman Professor for 政府 and 公共政策, served as chief-of-staff from 2002 – 2005 under then Secretary of State Colin Powell. 他在国家安全决策研讨会上授课。
“I see this as a recipe for another situation where 18 months from now we are examining our navels,” he told NPR’s Tom Ashbrook about the rumored increase in troops and the current U.S. policy in Afghanistan. 威尔克森一直公开批评美国目前在阿富汗的政策。
He said that it was inconceivable to him how current objectives in Afghanistan could be met without at an additional 10 – 15 year commitment from the U.S.
The “On Point” discussion was held the same morning a report was leaked in U.S. media outlets from General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, recommending increases in U.S. troop levels there or risk mission failure in that country.
威尔克森指出，泄露这类报告通常是为了衡量人们对其内容的反应。 “[It’s] like running the flag up the flag pole to see if anyone salutes.”
威尔克森说，无论增兵与否，在阿富汗取得成功的可能性都不大。
威尔克森把阿富汗的局势比作越南战争。
“We are now, as we were in Vietnam, supporting an illegitimate government,” he said.
In addition, Wilkerson noted that the idea that the government of current Afghani President Hamid Karzai is going to be able to control Afghanistan is “nonsensical.” He added that political control from Kabul, the country’s capital, isn’t in Afghanistan’s history and doesn’t appear to be in its future.
“It’s getting worse politically, not better,” he said.
威尔克森总结说，军事解决方案不太可能在阿富汗奏效。
The discussion included Daniel Ellsberg, a former top-level defense analyst at the Defense Department and State Department, who when he was working as an analyst at the RAND Corporation in 1971 leaked the so-called “Pentagon Papers” to The New York Times; 以及《纽约客》特约撰稿人乔治·帕克。