Discontent with Afghanistan

The lead story in The New York Times this morning is titled, “Obama to Weigh Buildup Option in Afghan War.” It describes a report by a General about the worsening condition and a request for new troops.

The article describes the difficulties for President Obama in deciding what to do. Discontent over the war in Afghanistan is increasing, particularly among the President’s liberal base, a base that is already dissatisfied by efforts to appease Republicans regarding the public option in healthcare. In addition, the establishment of benchmarks to measure progress in the war remain to be completed.

In my opinion, the President is indeed caught between a rock and a hard place. Generals will almost always ask for additional troops to complete their mission, but, in fairness, that mission itself is changing from just battling the Taliban to nation-building, a strategy that seemed to have worked in Iraq.

The reason for us entering Afghanistan in the first place seems to be lost in the fog of war. At that time, we were going to fight Al Qaeda and capture Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban were solely the host government supporting the terrorists. But meanwhile, Al Qaeda seems to have established a safe haven just over the border in Pakistan, so why are we still fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan?

Perhaps, even after beginning the withdrawal process from Iraq, we still need to keep our eye on the ball.