President Barack Obama came into office describing Afghanistan as the good war, the must-win war — a conflict linked directly to the 9\/11 terror attacks and uncomplicated by the Bush Administration’s “war of choice” ethos in Iraq.<\/p>\n
Mr. Obama was chastised by conservatives for spending three months last fall in consultation with his generals and his civilian war council.\u00a0 But in the end he essentially doubled-down on his commitment to this fight.<\/p>\n
The surge now underway in that country (one which directly involves thousands of North Country men, woman and families) is the brainchild of this White House.<\/p>\n
Mr. Obama’s one caveat — and the policy that Republicans still criticize him for — is the deadline he set for withdrawal almost exactly one year from today.<\/p>\n
It remains all but certain that the US will maintain an active and aggressive campaign in Afghanistan as the clock winds down to July 2011.<\/p>\n
But over the last two weeks, developments have raised troubling questions about the policy.<\/p>\n
Unless Mr. Obama can answer them satisfactorily, doubts will continue to grow about the sacrifice of American lives and treasure in this fight.<\/p>\n
Here are the questions that need answering:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0 Is it true that there are only about 50-100 Al Quaeda agents in Afghanistan, as CIA chief Leon Panetta argued last week?\u00a0 Or, as other administration officials have suggested, is the number only around 300?<\/p>\n
If so — and if the vast majority of Al Quaeda’s operatives are now in Pakistan and other countries — what is the argument for fighting the Taliban?<\/p>\n
Shouldn’t our forces be reconstituted to pursue our enemies in a more agile and flexible way, in the countries where they have taken refuge?<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0 There is growing evidence that the US military itself lacks conviction that this war and this strategy are tenable.<\/p>\n
The Rolling Stone article was controversial for a lot of reasons.\u00a0 But most troubling was the fact that nearly everyone, from Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s top aides to front-line grunts, seem to think we are stalemated.<\/p>\n
Major General Bill Mayville said, the end of the war is “not going to look like a win, smell like a win, or taste like a win. This is going to end in an argument.”<\/p>\n
Another top aide said, \u201cIf Americans pulled back and started paying attention to this war, it would become even less popular.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet Mr. Obama offered no fresh explanation to the American people for why we should believe that a tangible success — one worth so many precious lives — is plausible.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0 To complicate matters, the head of the Republican Party, Michael Steele, has now described the war in Afghanistan as unwinnable, condemning Mr. Obama’s surge:<\/p>\n
“Well, if [President Obama is] such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that’s the one thing you don’t do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan?<\/p>\n
All right, because everyone who has tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed.<\/p>\n
And there are reasons for that. There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Mr. Steele has since qualified his statement, but publicly-stated doubts raise serious questions about the political will in Washington to prosecute this war effectively.<\/p>\n
If the leader of the GOP thinks the war is a lost cause — a view shared by many top Democrats — is there a strong argument for staying there?<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0 It’s not just Washington that is getting queasy.<\/p>\n
Average Americans are increasingly impatient with our bitterly long fight in Afghanistan.\u00a0 A Gallup survey completed last week found that 65% of Americans support a deadline for withdrawal — or want the troops home sooner.<\/p>\n
Which raises an important question:\u00a0 Is a year long enough to accomplish something meaningful?\u00a0 Or are we simply running out the clock, at the cost of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of American lives?<\/p>\n
5.\u00a0 Finally, if we do remain, are we asking front-line soldiers to fight with limited rules of engagement that put their lives in additional risk for a policy of nation-building that seems increasingly dubious?<\/p>\n
It was Gen. McChrystal’s idea to limit the fire options for our soldiers, in an effort to win the hearts and minds of local Afghans and to limit civilian deaths caused by US firepower.<\/p>\n
But most credible anti-insurgency experts will tell you that this kind of patient, deliberate effort requires years, not months, in order to succeed.<\/p>\n
The bottom line?\u00a0 Our soldiers and the American people need a clear, concise argument for why we should continue this fight over the next year, along with a clear vision of the best possible outcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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