Did Obama Force McCain To Flip-Flop On Afghanistan?

[kevinmc]

Huffington Post - Seth Colter Walls

John McCain likes to paint Barack Obama as a naive follower on key national security issues. But by moving up his planned Afghanistan speech by two days to follow Obama's, and by agreeing that more U.S. troops are needed there, McCain appears to be following the Illinois Democrat on a major proposed shift for U.S. foreign policy.

Last month, Joint Chiefs chairman Adm. Michael Mullen said he needed at least three brigades shifted to Afghanistan, but that "troop constraints were preventing such a move."

Democrats trumpeted the statement as vindication, but the McCain campaign held the line and "resisted calls for more troops" in Afghanistan.

Indeed, in a policy paper published by Foreign Affairs last fall, McCain argued that any increase of forces in Afghanistan should be comprised of NATO troops instead of U.S. military personnel:

"Our recommitment to Afghanistan must include increasing NATO forces, suspending the debilitating restrictions on when and how those forces can fight, expanding the training and equipping of the Afghan National Army through a long-term partnership with NATO to make it more professional and multiethnic, and deploying significantly more foreign police trainers.

It must also address the current political deficiencies in judicial reform, reconstruction, governance, and anticorruption efforts."

According to the Boston Globe, that was a position the McCain campaign repeated last week:

But McCain's advisers say that if he becomes president he would build on President Bush's decision to rely on NATO forces - which now have about 20,000 troops in Afghanistan - and would prod Pakistan to take on Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters camped inside its borders.


"There is no easy answer, but clearly Pakistan needs to do more to crack down there," said Scheunemann.

Flash-forward to today. As the AP reported, McCain was set to discuss the economy, with an address on Afghanistan scheduled for Thursday. But the campaign ditched its planned focus on jobs (although not its banner) to follow Obama's lead -- not only by talking about national security but by joining him in calling for more American troops in Afghanistan.

Nearly an hour after Obama finished his D.C. speech, in which he repeated his call for "at least two additional combat brigades" to be sent to Afghanistan, McCain stepped to his podium across the country in New Mexico and raised him one. As McCain's website now says, the Arizona Republican wants "aat least three additional brigades" for the fight in Afghanistan.

[Johonny]

1. sounds like McCain needs 130,000 more troops

McCain told a town hall meeting. "It is precisely the success of the surge in Iraq that shows us the way to succeed in Afghanistan." McCain added: "I know how to win wars. And if I'm elected president, I will turn around the war in Afghanistan, just as we have turned around the war in Iraq, with a comprehensive strategy for victory."

So to "win" both wars we need 200 billion more in a year spent and 130,000 more troops but oh he's also going to balance the budget in 4 years. No worries this all makes sense in his mind.

[wurzel]

2. MSNBC pundit today claimed "Obama echos McCain" on Afghanistan.

Unbelievable.

[babylonsister]

3. Looks like it: would that be a flip, flop, or a high form of flattery?

Seems as if McCain's trying to keep up; I wonder if his minions wait until Obama makes a speech, then scribble madly to incorporate what he says into McCain's newest stance? I can just imagine that visual...