The Commitment in Afghanistan

The other day I talked about the war in Afghanistan being Obama's war. I pointed out that this was a commitment which was plagued with land mines. To begin with, I read no real commitment by the President in his speech at West Point when he failed to mention "victory". I pointed out that the Afghan homeland was unlike other traditional battlefields. This is an extremely mountainous terrain populated by many different ethnic groups which are in some ways a nation in of themselves. I noted that the Soviet Union failed to recognize the internal problems and failed after 10 years with nothing to show but 15,000 lives lost. I pointed out that this was really about the Al Queda and Taliban who jointly were carry on a battle against the "infidels" that dates to the Crusades. Last but far from the least is the corruption in the Afghan government which could be the tipping point to any expectation for success.

I have faulted the Administration for suggesting a timeline of 18 months and things are not always what they seem. In followup interviews on network talk shows, the Secretary of Defense Gates and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mullen sang the Administrations chorus line that 30,000 troops will do the job and we can expect the "transition" of our soldiers out of Afghanistan to begin in July 2011.

Now we start hearing the verses to the song and it is not all we were told it would be. It began with President Karzai of Afghanistan telling the world the very next day after the Obama speech that he did not think the American Forces would be leaving in 2011. This has been followed by statements that he believed it would take 5 years to train the Afghan military to defend their homeland and perhaps 15 years before Afghanistan would be able to economically stand on their own.

Perhaps the more revealing details have come within the last two days from Admiral Mullen and General McChrystal. Speaking at Camp Lejeune, NC on Monday, Adm Mullen stated that the insurgency had grown in the last three years and he expected casualties to rise as more U.S. troops entered the theater. He said "this was the most dangerous place he had seen in his four decades in uniform". He further stated "we are not winning, which means we are losing".

Then it was General McChrystals' turn during congressional committee hearings yesterday. Under intense questioning, he told the committee that he did not get as many troops has he requested and must work under a schedule that he did not recommend. After the Obama Administration and the media told the public that everything was just as planned and represented at West Point, we now find out that this was not necessarily so.

Whether you agree with the United States forces fighting in Afghanistan or not, we are totally committed and must support them and bring our soldiers home with nothing short of victory however long it takes.