As he continues to stretch out the timetable on a decision about whether to escalate the U.S. commitment to the war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama has asked for a province-by-province assessment of the tribal and other local leaders in that mountainous country. The ostensible reason is to try to figure out which local regions have leaders inclined to cooperate with the U.S. and able to provide a modicum of stability, meaning there would be little need for a lot of U.S. troops.
To many people, however, this looks like almost obsessive micromanagement from Washington of a country about which even most reputed experts in this country know little. ...
If the U.S. has a legitimate interest in Afghanistan, it is to ensure that al-Qaida, which has international ambitions and capabilities, does not re-establish operational bases in Afghanistan. No credible authority believes it has them now.
One of the worst strategies would be a cross between the status quo and ramping up troop levels to the number Obama's generals have requested to do the job. Unfortunately, this seems to be the road the president is set to take us down.
So our best bet is to define what success would be in Afghanistan, maintain the troops to achieve that goal, then draw down U.S. military forces and inform whatever government emerges in Afghanistan that if al-Qaida does establish bases we will destroy them pronto.
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Then go after al-Qaida where it is, in Pakistan, with what has worked best so far: better intelligence and the occasional special forces operation or drone strike.
Is that so hard to decide?
The Gazette,
Colorado Springs, Colo
