Afghanistan

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When Barack Obama campaigned on a “cut and run” strategy in Iraq, I strongly opposed that position as naïve and dangerous.  We are engaged in a war against international terrorists whose goals are to kill us and destroy our way of life.  Giving those terrorists a stronger position in Afghanistan and Pakistan now could provide our enemies with a strong economic base and access to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

Although the reality of office seems to have tempered the irresponsibility of Barack Obama’s campaign rhetoric, I am still doubtful that he is committed to the military action, in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world, which is necessary to defend U.S. interests and citizens.

That said, I would not support a withdrawal from Afghanistan at this time. The recent improvement in the military picture in Afghanistan confirms my belief that engagement there for the immediate future is the wiser course. This should not be seen as an open-ended commitment. We should make it plain to countries like Afghanistan that our presence is temporary, and that the primary use of our military forces is to defend our country and people. Length of stay and timing of withdrawal should not, however, be done in public, where such discussions can encourage destabilizing forces. President Karzai’s recent challenges to the Obama Administration seem to confirm the dangers of this kind of overly public “diplomacy.”   These decisions should be done in accordance with the direction of our military leaders. (As an example, now that Iraq has been stabilized, our military leaders have scheduled our troops to be begin drawdown in 2011.)

But whatever the merits of our original drawdown in Afghanistan, we were there, we never withdrew during the Iraq effort, and we are still there. In my opinion, formed without the kind of classified military intelligence available to members of Congress, a withdrawal now would be devastating to our position in the world. It would consequently increase the likelihood of further terrorist attacks, and expansionist tendencies on the part of Iran, and perhaps other nations far removed from that area.