government. 50% of the population in afghanistan, they need a role for this to work. it s wonderful news. but i m concerned, maybe it s not reality on the ground yet. it is not reality, perhaps, on the ground but how do you measure or gauge our concern with, as you pointed out, something you ve been talking about, something that others have wanted to see? i think here general petraeus comments are very important. the president s comments here have been very important, that this war is going to be ended for military means. i think, you know, anytime you have war, it s where politicians or people who control guns and money like you have with the taliban or the american military, their leaders are pushing them into this. i think that you hope that you bring the taliban in, you get a settlement, and violence, you know, drops and you ll see that because the taliban will come into the government or parts of it will. john, this morning on morning joe, dr. brazinsik had this comment.
and stop an active warfare, there is the hope you could at least negotiate an american withdrawal. all right, richard. thank you. now the nine-year war in afghanistan has claimed more than 1,200 american lives. the troops there, countless injuries, men and women coming home with injuries they must live with the rest of their lives. nearly 110,000 u.s. troops are currently fighting in that country. what would a non-military settlement mean for them? i m joined now by iraq war veteran john soltz. what are you to make of the conversation of a non-military settlement, an agreement, if you will, with the taliban and the afghan government? it s the best news i ve heard in years. we didn t hear much about it in iraq. as richard was just talking about, really bringing the sunni into the government, who are so concerned about the oil is really what lowered the violence. i ve written about this over at the huffington post. bring the taliban into the
military end. we ll have to win at high costs, and the country is not prepared to pay that price. already high costs paid, 1,200 american lives. there is no military solution here. there never will be. we talk about the afghan/pakistan region. that s so funny. those are western creations. there will never be a military solution. when the president made a decision to put 100,000-some troops into afghanistan, he took this war to a pro-karzai war. he engaged us on one side of the civil war. the only way out is to get the taliban divided or bring them into a government and get some type of peace agreement. john, thanks for reacting to this news of the day. of course. hope to see you again soon. anytime. there s much more ahead this hour. what is the minimum wage, michael? michael steele s jeopardy moment with lawrence. then there s a new rift brewing between sarah palin s
john soltz, chairman of vote vets.org. it s always a pleasure to have you on with me. bp says it now plans to begin its efforts to permanently kill that damaged well in the gulf of mexico. bp will pump mud and cement into the well in hopes to have it sealed by the end of the month. meantime, the chairman of one house committee is accusing federal authorities of allowing bp to use accessive amounts of chemical dispersants despite the federal restrictions. they were used on an almost daily basis. even though the epa says they should be used rarely, not on a daily basis and my concern is they were used in greater quantities than even the government indicated that bp should be permitted to use them. and joining me now, oil industry expert bob cabnar. thank you for joining us.
click on the charity buzz auction to bid on some great items with proceeds going to the people and the wildlife who need it the most. all right, john soltz, where s all this going in afghanistan? well, we re not going in the right direction. look, larry, we were on the segment together after the president s initial speech at west point. the time line makes no sense at all. when you want to put all these troops in there. the question is what are our objectives on the ground? we need to have a limited objective which is deny al qaeda the ability to train terrorists to attack our country. what happens when we put force throughout, you know, any of these countries? it happened in kosovo. they went into macedonia. it happened in iraq. in my unit. we put a lot of ground power on the ground to free up our logistics lines. as soon as we put troops on the ground, we put the enemy somewhere else. we can put hundreds of thousands of troops in afghanistan, push people around, but in the end the