Posted by
Bert Chapman on Wednesday, December 02, 2009 5:55:49 PM
Last night, President Obama addressed the nation and world on his administration's strategy for Afghanistan. The event was held in West Point's Eisenhower Hall and Obama's belief that he could emulate President Eisenhower and noted West Point alum Douglas MacArthur's grandiloquence fell woefully short in the address' delivery. I will give Obama a modicum of credit for ignoring the surrender hyenas in his party who want us to withdraw from Afghanistan and allow the restoration of Taliban rule and sanctuary for Al Qaida. The administration's decision to increase our troop strength by 30,000, while short of what General McCrystal has requested, is at least a step in the right direction which can be augmented by additional contributions from our ISAF allies in that country.
The general idea of benchmarks for the Afghan and Pakistani governments to meet has some merit, but determining how well these benchmarks have been achieved must be determined solely by theater military commanders and not Washington DC politicians with little understanding of regional political and cultural realities. The worst part of the Obama Administration's plan is it decision to begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011. During today's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Mississippi Republican Roger Wicker cogently asked witnesses Defense Secretary Gates, Secretary of State Clinton, and Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Mike Mullen if there were any historical instances of a military power announcing a surge of troops and their targeted withdrawal date at the same time. Due to this strategic imbecility, all the Taliban and Al Qaida have to do is lay low until July 2011 and then can emerge from their lairs and strike with full ferocity at Afghan and Pakistani targets. Gates, Clinton, and Mullen said that our withdrawal timetable is flexible, but we should never commit to a specific date for withdrawal until theater military commanders, not domestic political considerations, make an educated professional assessment that security conditions in Afghanistan and Pakistan have improved to a point where the presence of our forces is unnecessary.
Obama did a decent job explaining that we don't want Afghanistan and Pakistan to become sanctuaries for terrorist again. However, he failed to tell the American people and the international community that long-term nation building in this region is essential to ensure the viability of these countries and that we cannot expect these countries to stand on their own within the limited parameters of U.S. election cycles. We cannot abandon Afghanistan and Pakistan to a ruthless enemy and ensuring the security of these countries will be a decades long commitment. Yes, we must work to limit corruption among governmental officials in these countries but we must also consider our long-term geopolitical and strategic interests in that region. We must be willing to use both the imperial cudgel on our enemies and demonstrate compassion to and build trust among the long-suffering Afghan people. Obama has demonstrated that he can speak in rhetorically pleasing platitudes, but he has failed to demonstrate that he has sufficient understanding of our enemies ideological objectives, the moral imperative for us to achieve victory in this conflict, and his need to abandon his multicultural fantasies and become a ruthless warrior president who can tell the American public and world opinion that tough steps must be taken to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda.