So much for “the good war.”
In a matter of about three weeks, the Left’s view of Afghanistan has gone from “the good war” to “the next Vietnam.” This turnabout — in effect, the Left is dumping the war now that it has stopped being politically useful — deserves an honored place in the annals of bad faith. Meantime, our troops in the field are still fighting.
In an unsparing 66-page assessment, commanding general Stanley McChrystal warns of failure unless he gets more troops quickly for a counterinsurgency campaign to protect the population and to thwart the enemy’s momentum. McChrystal is President Obama’s hand-picked general, selected to carry out the “comprehensive” counterinsurgency strategy that Obama announced in March. But the White House now acts as if it barely knew its own four-star and had not heard of his strategy.
It is understandable that Obama wants to be deliberate in committing perhaps tens of thousands more troops to the field, but his change of tune, away from his formerly approved strategy and the stalwart rhetoric (“the necessary war”) of a few months ago, indicates fecklessness or political calculation or both.
If we want to keep al-Qaeda from reestablishing a base in parts of Afghanistan and militants from regaining the initiative in neighboring Pakistan, there is no alternative to defeating the Taliban and associated insurgencies in Afghanistan, and that will require manpower. Obama’s political advisers hate the war, and Vice President Biden is selling a characteristically unrealistic plan to fight it from afar. Obama should resist the urge to flinch.