Obama Team Should Reappraise Afghan War Efforts Before Doubling Troop Levels

[babylonsister]

I agree. As much as I love Obama and what he's done so far, he will hopefully reconsider troop levels, our involvement, and why.

Obama Team Should Reappraise Afghan War Efforts Before Doubling Troop Levels
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2009-01-16 00:41.
By Gareth Porter


The front-page story in the Washington Post Tuesday reports the intention of Barack Obama to commit a stunningly irrational blunder: to escalate dramatically the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan even though he has no clear proposal from the Pentagon on what is to be accomplished with the new "surge" in troops.

The president-elect "intends to sign off on Pentagon plans to send up to 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan," according to the Post. But it adds that Obama's national security team sees the troop increase as doing nothing more than "help buy enough time for the new administration to reappraise the entire Afghanistan war effort and develop a comprehensive new strategy...."

Why isn't the Obama team waiting until it has been able to "reappraise" the war effort and figure out what, if anything, would actually work before doubling the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan? Why doesn't Obama simply tell the Pentagon, "I'm not approving a major military escalation until you give me a plan that makes sense"?

The strange reversal of logic that has put the troop escalation in front of the war strategy horse should be a warning signal to Obama that the U.S. military is not on the right track in Afghanistan and doesn't know how to get there.

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and the military leadership have already had months to develop a new strategy. According to the Post, however, they haven't even been able to agree on the nature of the war. The military is "looking for Obama to resolve critical internal debates, including the relative merits of conducting conventional combat vs. targeted guerrilla war", the Post reported.

more...

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/39031

[leftofthedial]

1. escalation is wrong in nearly every way a decision CAN be wrong.

there is no mission.

there is no exit strategy.

there is ample historical proof that occupations of that region fail.

there is still WAY too big a force in Iraq, illegally occupying that country.

the money for expanding the occupation of Afghanistan could better be used creating jobs domestically.

escalation of force and military infrastructure will prejudice the future development of a strategy (when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail).

increased investment in treasure and blood makes it harder to get out and provides ammunition to hawks.

the list is actually much longer than this...

[babylonsister]

3. Surprisingly, I agree. I do think about all the

women in burkas who have it so bad, and the kids who grow up in a brutal society (depending on where they live/who is teaching them), but I don't have an answer for them either. I just know if we stay there this won't end well, or end ever. I think there was not much of a chance of success. Diplomacy goes far, but I'm not sure with Afghanistan, or Pakistan for that matter.

[az chela]

5. We have had enough killing.NO more war.PEACE NOW

[LakeSamish706]

4. (when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail). I like that... n/t

[LakeSamish706]

2. As a Canadian I hope that Obama will consider pulling all troops out of...

Afghanistan and Iraq. My hope is that the Harper Govt. will be brought down at the end of January and we Canadians will pull our troops out as well. Prior to Afghanistan, Canada has always been known as a peace keeping nation, not a warring nation and I hope we can go back to that following a GW Bush F***ed up Presidency.

[MercutioATC]

6. I believe the intent is to provide additional security for the troops while reviewing the situation.

I haven't heard Obama endorse increased missions in Afghanistan, just more manpower.

The "surge" was a military tactic. Yes, it required more manpower to accomplish, but it wasn't a "surge" in the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, it was an offensive surge.


Obama isn't calling for an offensive surge in Afghanistan. For now, he just wants to increase troop levels to provide additional security (if I understand him correctly).