Ambassador Eikenberry Dissents On US Troop Increase For Afghanistan

by: Chris LeJeune

Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 11:02:08 AM EST



As President Obama weighs the decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan, Ambassador Eikenberry the US envoy currently in Afghanistan opposes such an increase.  Eikenberry cites rampant corruption as the main reason for his decision.

The U.S. ambassador in Kabul sent two classified cables to Washington in the past week expressing deep concerns about sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan until President Hamid Karzai's government demonstrates that it is willing to tackle the corruption and mismanagement that has fueled the Taliban's rise, senior U.S. officials said.

At the same time, the president must also make sure the government of Afghanistan does not expect an open-ended committment.  The US is willing to stay as long as it takes, but not any longer.  There have been numerous suggestions from the right-wing that any withdrawal from Afghanistan is considered a defeat, even if that withdrawal is 15 years from now.  This led to a statement released from the White House:

"The President believes that we need to make clear to the Afghan government that our commitment is not open-ended," the statement said. "After years of substantial investments by the American people, governance in Afghanistan must improve in a reasonable period of time."

In other words, we're not willing to stay forever and we want some kind of return on our investment.  If we continue to stay without seeing improvements in the Afghan government, that is not acceptable.  But there is another piece of news that is also noteworthy.  Most of those who are following events in Afghanistan are familiar with General McChrystal's request for 40,000 more troops.  But this was just one of several suggestions given.

On the eve of his nine-day trip to Asia, Obama was given a series of options laid out by military planners with differing numbers of new U.S. deployments, ranging from 10,000 to 40,000 troops. None of the scenarios calls for scaling back the U.S. presence in Afghanistan or delaying the dispatch of additional troops.

Ambassador Eikenberry is a retired Lt. General who commanded US forces in Afghanistan from 2006-2007.  He retired from the military as a senior general in NATO this past April and was sworn in as ambassador to Afghanistan the next day.  This highlights the difficulties in strategy for that region.  The answer to any problem is not always to throw more troops in. If that were the case, why stop at 40,000?  Various pieces of the puzzle must be put in place before any new troops would be beneficial to the wider effort.  
Chris LeJeune :: Ambassador Eikenberry Dissents On US Troop Increase For Afghanistan
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Eikenberry is a political animal (0.00 / 0)
He was my first platoon leader back in 1975 - he was a dick then and he's still a dick.

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