What to do in Afghanistan?

U.S. soldiers under attack in Afghanistan

On Fareed Zakaria GPS this week (10/18), Afghan War expert Thomas Ricks gave the opinion that the United States should remain in Afghanistan and pursue two strategies. He recommended that the U.S. withdraw most of its forces from the country side and concentrate on protecting and cooperating with the bulk of the Afghan population, located in Kabul, Kandahar, and a few other population centers, while using Special Forces and airstrikes to keep the Taliban and its allies, including Al Qaeda, from moving from Pakistan into Afghanistan as the Pakistani army expands its fight against them. In short, Ricks advocated “the Biden strategy” for the borders of Afghanistan and “the Petraeus strategy” for the population centers of Afghanistan. That sounds like a pretty reasonable approach to me, but will it satisfy anybody back home?


Actually, the divide between public opinion and political opinions on the matter is much the same as with healthcare reform. Polls taken in September 2009 show that support for the war in Afghanistan among Americans is declining steeply, with only 39% favoring the war in a TIME/CNN poll, while 58% want to withdraw U.S. forces from the country. In Congress, the progressives want to withdraw, while the conservatives want to increase troop levels. Personally, if John McCain thinks increasing troop levels is a good idea, I’m against it, but what will President Obama do? Will he listen to Vice President Joe Biden or General Stanley McChrystal? Or can he blend the two approaches, as Thomas Ricks suggested? Stay tuned, and we’ll see, but as long as the American body count rises, public support for what no longer seems like a “war of necessity” is likely to decline even further. But then, who pays attention to what the citizens think? If it were left to the majority of citizens, healthcare reform would include a public option, but we have already seen how allergic to that Congress seems to be. Go figure.