Yes. Arabic Speakers are Needed in Afghanistan

Sigh. The utter stupidity and ignoramce of our media is contributing to the perception that Barack Obama made a "gaffe" yesetrday when he claimed we need more Arabic translators in Afghanistan.

The fact is, that statement is absolutely true.

It is also true that Arabic is not spoken by the vast majority of Afghanis. But, there is an enclave of Arabic speakers there.

Arabs were prominent in Afghanistan in the past, and there are still vestiges of the culture there that have survived, including a couple of Arab dialiects.

The most important reason we need Arabic speakers there, however, is that Al Qaeda is predominantly comprised of Arabic speakers. There is also a wealth of intelligence information that can be gleaned from seized Al Qaeda documents written in Arabic.

And, to illustrate the point that we need Arabic speakers there, they are actively being recruited FOR Afghanistan already. If they were not needed there, why are Arabic speaking cryptologists (to take one example) being recruited for Afghanistan?