More Americans in Afghanistan?

The lead article in today’s New York Times is titled, “Obama is Facing Doubts in Party on Afghanistan.” It analyzes a recent statement by the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, a Democrat from Michigan. Senator Levin spoke out against a further increase in American troops in Afghanistan, arguing instead for more trainers of the Afghan army and police force.

Mr. Levin spoke to key administration officials including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen. The article also described opposition to a troop increase among other Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House. Many Democrats also want to wait for a report due in two weeks about progress on agreed benchmarks to evaluate the conflict.

In my opinion, Carl Levin’s stand represents a pragmatic approach to the eight-year old war. Our main opponent is Al Qaeda, not the Taliban, and we want to be careful about getting sucked into a quagmire, as did the Russians in Afghanistan and us in Iraq. Al Qaeda is operating primarily in the mountainous border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan while the bulk of our current fighting in Afghanistan is in the southern region of the country where the Taliban are strongest.

Given the facts above, President Obama is delaying a decision on more troops,  a wise move given both the internal debate and a current focus on uniting the Party to pass health care reform.