Wednesday, September 02, 2009
With obstacles mounting from both the enemy and the government in power, the U.S. should rethink its strategy in Afghanistan and dramatically downsize its forces, writes conservative columnist George Will. The current plan by President Barack Obama calls for building a modern Afghan nation—in a country that more closely resembles something out of the Old Testament, where conditions are “deteriorating” and only Somalia ranks as a worse place to manufacture a state.
Then, there’s the government of Hamid Karzai, which controls only a third of the country, and is appearing as corrupt as the Saigon regime that the U.S. failed to prop up during the Vietnam War.
The American military presence is increasing from 21,000 to 68,000, raising the total coalition force to over 100,000. But Will says this surge won’t nearly be enough. To accomplish President Barack Obama’s goal for Afghanistan, the country “would need hundreds of thousands of coalition troops, perhaps for a decade or more. That is inconceivable.”
“So, instead, forces should be substantially reduced to serve a comprehensively revised policy: America should do only what can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, airstrikes and small, potent Special Forces units, concentrating on the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan, a nation that actually matters,” writes Will.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Time to Get Out of Afghanistan (by George Will, Washington Post)
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