Afghanistan War and the Need for Change

Intelligence Report Offer Dim Views of Afghan War---New York Times

President Bush sold his ill-conceived notion of a global War on Terror to the American people and to the world at large. From the beginning, the concept of a global war on terror, fought with armies, air force and navies, the same way World War II was fought and won, made the enterprise a mission without a meaningful definition of success. As long as some crazy person in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iraq or anywhere else was willing to blow himself or herself up, we could not declare victory in the global war on terror.

President Obama came into office, and attempted initially to repudiate the concept of a global war on terror, but he was not strong enough as a leader to do so. He seemed to be too willing to buy into the Conservative propaganda that Democratic presidents are weak on defense. In order to prove the Conservative propagandists wrong, he has used the same play book that informed the war policies of President Bush, which were repudiated by Red States and Blue States just two years ago, to make the Obama presidency possible.

Anyone who has been willing to look beyond the familiar play book will come to the conclusion that is emerging from these reports, that "victory" is next to impossible, unless the mission is defined in a way that focuses on the security interests of the United States. Neither the current Afghan government, nor all of the emotional commitments to bring some form of democracy to the tribesmen of Afghanistan is crucial to those interests. The fundamental American interest is to ensure that Afghanistan is not now or in the future a training and a launching site for international terrorism. A few hundred soldiers and special forces, and smart munitions on ships and in the air could accomplish that mission, at a fraction of the cost of the current mission.

Considering all of the above, President Obama should clearly redefine the mission in Afghanistan. He should also move to significantly draw down on the American military deployment in Afghanistan. The young soldiers on the front lines deserve a clear and winnable mission.

I thank you.

Fubara David-West.

Intelligence Reports Offer Dim Views of Afghan War
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: December 14, 2010
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WASHINGTON — As President Obama prepares to release a review of American strategy in Afghanistan that will claim progress in the nine-year-old war there, two new classified intelligence reports offer a more negative assessment and say there is a limited chance of success unless Pakistan hunts down insurgents operating from havens on its Afghan border.
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