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Obama Facing Doubts Within His Own Party on Afghanistan
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by Bunk | September 11, 2009 at 12:44 am
110 views | 10 Recommendations | 2 comments
There is at that the moment a real healthy debate going on about Afghanistan, on both sides of the Atlantic. Though the war is unpopular, the loss of life in the last month has taken its toll on will and commitment for many. The faulty election has also not helped the situation.
Europe two days ago will hold a conference on Afghanistan, now Obama is facing problems with maybe a future troop commitment.
The situation at the moment is that Al Qaeda, and the Taliban are being squeezed. Pakistan in it's frontier zones are taking the fight to the Taliban. Drone air attacks are starting to weaken middle leadership if the Taliban. Troops in Afghanistan though taking large losses over the last months, are making a real difference in Afghanistan. Yes their needs to be more training for the Afghan police and military. On this day of remembrance of the 9/11 tragedy. All report's so that Al Qaeda, and the Taliban are far weaker, Their far less areas for them to bases themselves safely. Yeman is still a problem, as well as North Africa. But signs are there that the action being taken is working.
In politics public support is what counts. The war in Afghanistan is starting to become more and more unpopular. The question and answer that real maters though are. Does our continuing involvement make us, and the rest if the world a safer place? That is what we should be asking. Can we raise ourselves above easy political answers?
Obama Facing Doubts Within His Own Party on Afghanistan
WASHINGTON — The leading Senate Democrat on military matters said Thursday that he was against sending more American combat troops to Afghanistan until the United States speeded up the training and equipping of more Afghan security forces.
The comments by the senator, Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who is the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, illustrate the growing skepticism President Obama is facing in his own party as the White House decides whether to commit more deeply to a war that has begun losing public support, even as American commanders acknowledge that the situation on the ground has deteriorated.
Senator Levin’s comments, made in an interview and in the draft of a speech he will deliver Friday, are significant because his stature on military matters gives him the ability to sway fellow lawmakers, and his pivotal committee position provides a platform for vetting Mr. Obama’s major decisions on troops.
Underscoring the increasing unease, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said earlier on Thursday that the president would face opposition if he sought to fulfill an expected request from Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, for more American combat troops.
“I don’t think there is a great deal of support for sending more troops to Afghanistan in the country or in Congress,” Ms. Pelosi told reporters, emphasizing that she was eager to see a report due from the White House in two weeks on benchmarks to measure the success of the administration’s six-month-old strategy.
The White House has begun to indicate that it could be weeks or perhaps much longer before Mr. Obama decides whether to send more troops to Afghanistan.
Administration officials say they want to do a complete review of the effectiveness of the last troop increase, which will put the American presence at 68,000 troops by year’s end, an all-time high. They are also digesting a strategic assessment of the Afghan mission that General McChrystal has submitted.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 02:22 on September 11th, 2009
Whether or not the strategy is working remains to be seen. There needs to be a healthy discussion to talk about goals and objectives in Afghanistan.
The Taliban finds it easy to recruit followers to carry on the insurgency. They have proven in the past that they can adapt to NATO strategy.
There needs to be an open honest debate among NATO members, leaving politics aside.
The debate must cover what has to be achieved and how to get there. This country has survived many foreign incursions.
at 14:11 on September 11th, 2009
There needs to be a healthy discussion to talk about goals and objectives in Afghanistan.
This is the most important debate at this time becasuse of the continuous recruitment tactics and techniques of the Taliban. Not only can the Taliban recruit, but they are indoctrinating youngsters beginning at 10 years old on how to kill with no remorse and the nobility of suicide and martyrdom.
One film obtained by the Pakistan army in a raid shows a child who could not be more than 10 years old given the assignment of performing an execution by shooting a man who was bound with his head covered. The boy stood up afterwards smiling with the approval of those around him. How can we believe that winning militarily is possible by the arrest or death of various Taliban leaders and chiefs when there is an endless supply of those being trained to take their place.