“He campaigned on Afghanistan so that’s going to make it hard for him to walk away from this war.” So stated Jonathan  Alter senior writer for Newsweek appearing on Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC’s Countdown. Since the leak of General McChrystal’s report to the Washington Post, the President has come under increasing pressure to send more troops into Afghanistan. However, despite the urgings he insists that he will review the strategy before making his decision and that is a refreshing position for recent American Presidents.
Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and even George W. Bush all found themselves in wars that morphed into lager wars from which they seemed incapable of extricating themselves even though the reality suggested otherwise. This invariably led to an unnecessary loss of life of the civilian population where the wars were being waged and our own servicemen.
The opening paragraph of Bob Woodard’s column reads; The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict "will likely result in failure," according to a copy of the 66-page document obtained by The Washington Post.
Since the leak of the McChrystal papers there has been no shortage of promoters encouraging the President to send in more troops as McChrystal has requested. Interestingly, the same folk who pushed for us to go into Iraq and ignore Afghanistan are now saying that Afghanistan is the center for the war on terror. Condoleezza Rice, Senator Lieberman, John McCain, and even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are making this claim that to leave Afghanistan to the Taliband would mean that it would once again be a haven for Al-Qaeda. David Gergen CNN political consultant, talked about his concern regarding President Obama’s ambivalence toward Afghanistan
During his weekend media blitz the President stated in his interview on Meet The Press and the other shows on which he appeared that he wants to be sure that the strategy is right before he commits more troops.
DAVID GREGORY: Are you skeptical about more troops? About sending more troops?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, can I just say this? I am— I have to exercise skepticism anytime I send a single young man or woman in uniform into harm’s way. Because, I’m the one who’s answerable to their parents if they don’t come home. So I have to ask some very hard questions anytime I send our troops in.
The question that I’m asking right now is to our military, to General McChrystal, to General Petraeus, to all our national security apparatus, is— whether it’s troops who are already there, or any troop request in the future, how does this advance America’s national security interests? How does it make sure that al Qaeda and its extremist allies cannot attack the United States homeland, our allies, our troops who are based in Europe?
That’s the question that I’m constantly asking because that’s the primary threat that we went there to deal with. And if— if supporting the Afghan national government, and building capacity for their army, and securing certain provinces advances that strategy, then we’ll move forward.
But, if it doesn’t, then I’m not interested in just being in Afghanistan for the sake of being in Afghanistan or saving face or, in some way— you know, sending a message that America— is here for— for the duration. I think it’s important that we match strategy to resources.
What I’m not also gonna do, though, is put the resource question before the strategy question. Until I’m satisfied that we’ve got the right strategy I’m not gonna be sending some young man or woman over there- beyond what we already have.
Fortunately, we finally have a President who is not afraid to reevaluate a situation and alter his original course of action if circumstances suggest otherwise. He is not letting the idea that a sensible decision connotes failure or weakness. It does not necessarily follow that leaving Afghanistan to the Taliband would result in Al-Qaeda taking over again. The Taliband remembers what happened the last time they allowed Al Queada to operate from their soil, and there is less reason to believe that they would allow Al-Qaeda to subject them to the same fate again.
There is another thought regarding the efficacy of occupying Afghanistan to prevent Al-Qaeda from establishing a base of operation. If the United States applies that principle fully around the world we have to consider occupying a number of other countries. Al-Qaeda supports Muslim fighters in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Tajikistan, Somalia, Yemen, and Kosovo. It also trains members of terrorist organizations from such diverse countries as the Philippines, Algeria, and Eritrea.
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