George Will to Call for Afghanistan Withdrawal

by: Richard Allen Smith

Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 09:00:00 AM EDT

Well this is a surprise:

George F. Will, the elite conservative commentator, will call in his next column for U.S. ground troops to leave Afghanistan, according to publishing sources.
"[F]orces 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," Will writes in the column, scheduled for publication later this week.

Very interesting to see an arch-conservative like George Will publicly advocating withdrawal of nearly all U.S. forces from Afghanistan. I have to admit, a lot the recent talk on the issue is starting to make me suspicious of continued involvement and escalation. I could write an entire series of posts of "on one hand/on the other hand" debate over the issue.

The problem is that it seems the situation is rapidly descending out of control. More troops keep being requested without clearly defining what their role will be (we're told they are for population centric counterinsurgency, but also told we are moving away from protecting the population and focusing on counter terrorism). It is appears there are no good answers-- we just have to determine which is the better of two poor choices. One is the option Will presents, which itself leaves challenges such as the increased chance of civilian casualties as a result of air strikes with no troops on the ground. Another would be to continue our current strategy which has, at best resulted in a stalemate which promises hundreds of Afghan civilian and Coalition fatalities each year we continue. Other than that, we have what has been ambiguously described in the leaked portion of the McCrystal report as a "revised strategy" which remains undefined.

Your guess is as good as mine, but the status quo is unacceptable, and allowing a Taliban faction which would again allow al-Qaeda free operation is as as well.

Richard Allen Smith :: George Will to Call for Afghanistan Withdrawal

Tags: Afghanistan, Geroge Will, (All Tags)

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George Will to Call for Afghanistan Withdrawal | 3 comments

I personally have mixed feelings on what our Af-Pak strategy should be. (0.00 / 0)

However, there is another method that should not be overlooked. Surround Afghanistan with logistics, supply, and intel assets. There are airbases in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Pakistan that could be used, as well as development of a solid supply route from Tajikistan. From there, we pour in the troops accompanied by UN humanitarian aid. Sit back for the long haul and try to win the hearts and minds while simultaneously eradicating the numerous different factions that are collectively referred to as AQ or Taliban.

Needless to say, I can point out numerous holes in this strategy. I just wanted to put that out there. My main problem with this whole thing goes back to ROI. What is our Return On Investment? Once we have expended troops, money, and resources on this effort, what have we accomplished? What is the definition of "victory"? We will have denied AQ one safe-haven, but they will simply move to another. This will require us to start all over again to push them out of their new home - more time, money, troops and resources and several more years. We will also have a symbolic victory to show the world. We will be able to show that the US did not run and that we stayed the fight. Is that worth our investment?

Just a few ideas to consider.

"No U.S. soldier ever dies in vain because they're carrying out the missions of their commander in chief. And we honor all the service that they've provided." - Barack Obama

by: Chris LeJeune @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 09:50:11 AM CDT

Yeah I am in agreement there (0.00 / 0)

Of course what I find utterly maddening in all of this is the idiocy of Washington DC.

Over the past year, we have been looking to the Saudis and the Pakistanis for help on Afghanistan. But at the same end, we have been generally pushing away the Russians and the Iranians. Not saying that the Russians and Iranians will ever become our new best friends, but it is not in Russia or Iran's interests to have a Taliban run Afghanistan. On the other hand, such a thing most certainly is in the Saudis' interests and may well be in Pakistan's interests as well.

There was also the maddening talk of taking down Mohammed Fahim, which left me scratching my head and there seems to be this notion amongst political circles in DC that we can put over 200 years of American history onto a CD, hand it to Karzai, and expect a Western Democracy to suddenly flourish.

I don't know about everyone else, but the Scheuer solution is looking pretty good about now: Kill a shitload of AQ members, give the Taliban a beating serious enough to give them the message that engaging in activity that threatens US National Security is no longer worth the cost, and then leave.

by: FredUSMC @ Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 16:21:50 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Now that is the best Af/Pak policy I've seen yet! (0.00 / 0)

n/t

"No U.S. soldier ever dies in vain because they're carrying out the missions of their commander in chief. And we honor all the service that they've provided." - Barack Obama

by: Chris LeJeune @ Wed Sep 02, 2009 at 10:57:43 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

George Will to Call for Afghanistan Withdrawal | 3 comments

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