October 28, 2009
Afghanistan: Obama’s 3 a.m. phone call and he’s refusing to answer the phone.

Posted at 8:45 am, in: War on Terrorism
Tags: Afghanistan, al Qaeda, Barack Obama, Bratislava, John McCain, Kabul, NATO, Pakistan, Stanley McChrystal, Taliban, Troops

So rarely do I agree with John McCain, but I agree Obama needs to make a decision and give Afghanistan, and our American soldiers, a fighting chance:

We must succeed in Afghanistan for many reasons, but one stands above all: the world walked away from Afghanistan once, and it descended into a cauldron of violence, hatred and human rights atrocities that served as the base for the worst terrorist attack in history against our homeland.

We cannot let that happen again, and we cannot let the Taliban and its al Qaedaallies conquer Afghanistan once more. Failure of this kind would also destabilize the entire strategically vital region, including nuclear-armed Pakistan.

We know what it takes to succeed in Afghanistan: a resolute commitment to the principles of counterinsurgency, which turned Iraq around during the surge.

I am confident that properly resourced counterinsurgency policy, adapted to the unique culture and geography of Afghanistan, can lead to success there. Our entire military chain of command supports this approach, as do our NATO allies, which they made clear at their recent defense ministerial meeting in Bratislava.

I supported President Obama when he called for a counterinsurgency plan in March, and I did so again when he deployed Gen. Stanley McChrystal to lead the command in Kabul. I agree with our commander’s assessment of the security situation as “deteriorating” and that our civilian and military leaders urgently need more resources, including more combat troops, to turn the tide toward success.

I sympathize with our president, because sending men and women into harm’s way is the most difficult decision that a commander-in-chief must make. However, Americans are already serving in harm’s way in Afghanistan, and the sooner we can provide the reinforcements and resources they need, the safer and more successful they will be. So I am urging President Obama to move as quickly as possible to fully support Gen. McChrystal’s request for more troops.

It is true that the Afghan government is not as strong or credible as we would like, but that should not deter us from committing more civilian and military resources now. Local governments in counterinsurgency environments are usually weak and fledgling. There is an insurgency in the first place because it seeks to exploit the local population’s dissatisfaction with its government. As long as Afghanistan is insecure, it is unreasonable to assume that governance will improve.

I’m definitely not “pro-war.” Who is? But, whether or not we should be at war in Afghanistan, or Iraq for that matter, is irrelevant at this point. We are involved in these two wars. At this point, we have the rest of history to debate whether or not these wars were right or just, but let’s resolve to have that debate as the victors rather than the defeated.

I understand it’s a tough decision and Obama doesn’t want to rush it, but that’s garbage. Gen. McChrystal’s declaration that we need troops and need them now was made over a month ago. Unfortunately, sometimes you don’t have the time to think out a problem and come to the best decision. You have to take all that you currently know and make the best decision you can based on that. This is Obama’s 3 a.m. phone call and he’s refusing to answer the phone.

People can hate President Bush as much as they like, but he understood the implications of an American defeat. Perhaps we shouldn’t be in those countries, but that doesn’t change the fact that we are and if we fail in either place it will embolden terrorists and other enemies of America. If we fail in Afghanistan it will lead to a destabilized country, region, and world.

I don’t want to sacrifice anymore of our brave men and women who dedicate their lives to preserving our freedoms, but if we don’t win these wars now, we will be fighting more wars and enemies later. So, our choice isn’t whether or not to put our service members in harm’s way, our choice is whether we put them in harms way now to win the wars we’re already in or we put them in harm’s way later when our enemies come to attack us because they perceive us as weak after our loss.