Lexington Herald Leader Sees A "Reasonable Option In A Bad Situation".
Reasonable option in a bad situation
Having inherited a badly botched mission, President Barack Obama has outlined as good a strategy as is probably possible for salvaging U.S. interests in Afghanistan.
A 30,000 troop surge with an 18-month timeline gives the Afghans time and support to take control of their country from the repressive Taliban — plus the incentive of a deadline.
Some Republicans, including Sen. Jim Bunning, are criticizing Obama for not making an open-ended commitment of troops and money.
But an occupation would never succeed. Afghanistan isn't called the graveyard of empires for nothing. Just ask the Russians.
With this deployment, Obama will have doubled U.S. forces in Afghanistan, giving Gen. Stanley McCrystal the opportunity to carry out a swift counterinsurgency, stabilize the country and build Afghan capacity for self-governance.
We would have liked to see the U.S. out of Afghanistan yesterday; it's been eight years, after all, and the U.S. won there once.
But the Bush administration neglected this legitimate front in the war on terror to pick an unnecessary and still unfinished fight in Iraq. The defeated Taliban was allowed to regroup, especially along the lawless border with Pakistan.
Letting Afghanistan fall back under Taliban control, and again become a safe haven for al-Qaida to launch terrorist attacks, would pose a direct threat to this country and the world.
Obama, in contrast to his predecessor, arrived at this decision through deliberation and planning.
Now that the decision is made, the president is moving swiftly to give McCrystal the extra troops by early next year, which is when the general sought them in his original request.
Obama's strategy has big risks. But Afghanistan is not Vietnam. The U.S. was attacked from Afghanistan. The Taliban, who want to impose a Medieval social order, lack broad support from the Afghan people. And our allies are with us in Afghanistan.
Also, the dangers of a domino effect are real if the Taliban and al-Qaida destabilize nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Obama, who had no good choices in Afghanistan, laid out the rationale for his new strategy as eloquently as always. The hard part will be carrying it out.
Having inherited a badly botched mission, President Barack Obama has outlined as good a strategy as is probably possible for salvaging U.S. interests in Afghanistan.
A 30,000 troop surge with an 18-month timeline gives the Afghans time and support to take control of their country from the repressive Taliban — plus the incentive of a deadline.
Some Republicans, including Sen. Jim Bunning, are criticizing Obama for not making an open-ended commitment of troops and money.
But an occupation would never succeed. Afghanistan isn't called the graveyard of empires for nothing. Just ask the Russians.
With this deployment, Obama will have doubled U.S. forces in Afghanistan, giving Gen. Stanley McCrystal the opportunity to carry out a swift counterinsurgency, stabilize the country and build Afghan capacity for self-governance.
We would have liked to see the U.S. out of Afghanistan yesterday; it's been eight years, after all, and the U.S. won there once.
But the Bush administration neglected this legitimate front in the war on terror to pick an unnecessary and still unfinished fight in Iraq. The defeated Taliban was allowed to regroup, especially along the lawless border with Pakistan.
Letting Afghanistan fall back under Taliban control, and again become a safe haven for al-Qaida to launch terrorist attacks, would pose a direct threat to this country and the world.
Obama, in contrast to his predecessor, arrived at this decision through deliberation and planning.
Now that the decision is made, the president is moving swiftly to give McCrystal the extra troops by early next year, which is when the general sought them in his original request.
Obama's strategy has big risks. But Afghanistan is not Vietnam. The U.S. was attacked from Afghanistan. The Taliban, who want to impose a Medieval social order, lack broad support from the Afghan people. And our allies are with us in Afghanistan.
Also, the dangers of a domino effect are real if the Taliban and al-Qaida destabilize nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Obama, who had no good choices in Afghanistan, laid out the rationale for his new strategy as eloquently as always. The hard part will be carrying it out.
Labels: News reporting
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 10:59 AM
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