Pres. Obama states his administration will "Finish the Job" in Afghanistan.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Barack Obama is now only days away from announcing his Afghan War Strategy decision.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
General McChrystal states that 34,000 more U.S. Troops will add renewed energy for the US Armed Forces already serving in the Afghan theatre.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
President Obama stuck in muck with pledge to "Finish the Job" in Afghanistan
President Obama hinted Tuesday that the cavalry is coming when he boldly stated he intends to "finish the job" in Afghanistan's eight-year war.
But he may live to regret setting such a high bar with his mystery war plan, much like his predecessor George W. Bush did by pledging to nail Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive."
It's almost impossible to imagine any Afghan strategy this President could unveil next week, short of an immediate withdrawal, that will bring peace before he faces American voters again in 2012.
It might even prove impossible to "finish the job" by 2016 if he wins reelection.
"The idea we can wave a magic wand over the place and fix it quickly is not realistic," said Afghanistan analyst Peter Bergen.
It's worrisome that Obama might be ready to spring yet another quick-fix plan.
Since 2001, the problem hasn't just been that the Afghan fight was shamefully shortchanged of resources as the Iraq war's ugly stepchild. It also has suffered from arrogant military and civilian leaders who fought every year of the war as if it was the last.
In 2003, ex-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the U.S. had "moved from major combat activity to a period of stability and reconstruction."
His top commander, Army Lt. Gen. Dan McNeill, even predicted withdrawing some of his 8,000 U.S. troops by 2004.
Instead, the Taliban rallied with cash from opium-producing poppy crops and Al Qaeda expertise - and the American body count rose.
Obama is likely to add at least 30,000 to a force that will total 100,000 in Afghanistan. An equal number will remain in Iraq, meaning last year's anti-war candidate will ironically have more soldiers in harm's way - 200,000 - than Bush did at the height of the Iraq "surge."
And don't call this boost a "surge" because insiders know that's a misnomer.
It will be an escalation without any plan on the horizon to draw down the additional forces, like in Iraq.
Bergen says the extra troops can secure more roads and pockets thick with Taliban in the next two years, but ending the war "is a long-term project."
It's not just how many boots are on the ground, it's how they're used.
That's why many strategists are embracing the idea of hiring Pashtun tribal militias or embedding Special Forces to "go native" for years and win tribal allies by spilling blood with them side by side.
But the wisest ideas all involve facing the hard truth that we will be in the fight for many more years amid polls that show the public - American and Afghan - losing patience.
That hard dose of reality required to win gives the enemy plenty of ammo in the meantime for their propaganda denouncing Americans as occupiers who refuse to leave.
View Larger Map
Sources: NY Daily News, MSNBC, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Google Maps
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment