This is a worrisome development:
PRESIDENT Barack Obama has demanded that American defence chiefs review their strategy in Afghanistan before going ahead with a troop surge.
There is concern among senior Democrats that the military is preparing to send up to 30,000 extra troops without a coherent plan or exit strategy.
The Pentagon was set to announce the deployment of 17,000 extra soldiers and marines last week but Robert Gates, the defence secretary, postponed the decision after questions from Obama.
The president was concerned by a lack of strategy at his first meeting with Gates and the US joint chiefs of staff last month in “the tank”, the secure conference room in the Pentagon. He asked: “What’s the endgame?” and did not receive a convincing answer.
Larry Korb, a defence expert at the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank, said: “Obama is exactly right. Before he agrees to send 30,000 troops, he wants to know what the mission and the endgame is.”
Obama promised an extra 7,000-10,000 troops during the election campaign but the military has inflated its demands. Leading Democrats fear Afghanistan could become Obama’s “Vietnam quagmire”.
It will, indeed, become a quagmire – if Obama tries to place his judgment in military matters as superior to the considered judgment of the very same military leaders who crafted victory in the Iraq campaign. One is concerned that the zero-military experience Obama is making judgment about strategy or the lack thereof – Obama could have been doing some intensive study of military history since November but if he has, I haven’t heard it. As far as I can tell, he’s never so much as picked up a book on military affairs.
It is for the President to set the broad goals of American military policy, it is for the professionals of the US military to carry them out. In the campaign, Obama said he would secure victory in Afghanistan – indeed, one of the selling points he used on himself was the claim that he, unlike former President Bush or Senator McCain, would ensure that victory was achieved in Afghanistan. The goal has been set, the military says it needs 30,000 more troops – I advise against anyone second-guessing this unless there is some concrete fact which argues against sending troops in those number…worrying that there isn’t an “endgame”, especially when the worries come from a rank amateur, is asinine. Let the military do the job we’ve set for it – we’ll know soon enough if they are on the right track or whether they’ve made boneheaded mistakes. This is especially true now that we have battle-tested troops and officers who have shown themselves capable of handling whatever mission is given.
The choices for President Obama are to fight or to withdraw – if we are to fight, we must provide the military, in large terms, whatever it says it needs for victory. If we aren’t to do this, then we should get out now before there is a large effusion of blood for no purpose. I, naturally, believe we should fight for victory; I pledge to be a loyal supporter of the President regarding Afghanistan as long as he is attempting to secure victory – but the moment I perceive a lack of will to victory I will go into opposition on the continuation of the Afghan campaign. Loss of Afghanistan would be a catastrophe for America, Afghanistan and the world…but I can’t agree to continued bloodshed if the President is not clearly fighting for absolute victory.
I hope I’m just being a bit of a Nervous Nellie here with a new, inexperienced President. I really hope that is the case.
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