[The threat] will only grow if the region slides backwards,”
—Barack Obama, December 1, 2009.
ATLANTA— All I have to say after watching excerpts of Barack Obama’s Afghanistan speech is that I think the man is hopelessly weak and naïve.
Barack Obama will send 30,000 troops in the next 6 months to Afghanistan. They will work feverishly with a broken Afghan government to upgrade Afghanistan’s security over the course of a handful of months. Somewhere in all of this, presumably, Al Qaeda will be defeated; the Taliban will be dismantled. The troops will then begin withdrawing in 2011, with virtually all forces gone by 2013.
In terms of military strategy, I think this is naïve and terrible.
By setting a deadline so explicit, Mr. Obama just told the Taliban: “In 3 years, you will get your country back.”
If the Taliban were intelligent, they would aid this strategy along. They would withdraw from direct combat, slink back into the hills and into northern Pakistan and wait this one out. Recruit forces among the talib at the madrassas. Build reserves and weapons. Wait for the United States and NATO to leave.
…and then drive an enormous invasion back towards Kabul, once the last U.S. soldier is gone.
Time is on the side of the Taliban now. Armed with the fighting experience of the last several years and girded on by the “glorious” memories of their brutal takeover of Afghanistan in the late 1990’s, they have to be cheering this speech on.
This speech was a win for international terrorism.
Mr. Obama is right: the threat will grow. But it’s when, not if the region slides backwards…
This speech was a dangerous, short-sited political calculation that we will come to regret sometime in the next decade.
TennesseePaul
Stephen VanNuys
Brooklyn Daniel
The Freedom Thinker
No surprises here.
Your evaluation and predictions are accurate.
I anticipated that Obama would play CYA on this one and he has done exactly that, attempting to give something to everyone and in the process doing little except provide a blinding ray of hope for the Taliban and, of course, Al Qaeda.
The message is clear and unfortunately will appeal greatly to those who expect a quick solution to the world’s most difficult problems – America has set a timetable for withdrawal and once again we are preparing to leave foreign allies in the lurch. Vietnam revisited.
There is a growing anti-war segment within our population, fed by the usual conglomeration of Leftist appeasers and those who would subvert and destroy America, plus the well-intentioned but ill-informed peace activists who ignore the evil intent of the murderous groups whose goal is domination not only of their own societies, but subjugation of the world’s population.
No leadership in mind – only appeasement. Obama’s foreign policy, in a nutshell.
This is a truly dangerous man.
>No leadership in mind – only appeasement. Obama’s foreign policy, in a nutshell.
You nailed it. That has never been more clear than in this decision.
Obama doesn’t care. He doesn’t believe in any of this. His worldview is so out of touch, it’s incomprehensible to me.
I think if he went with his gut, he’d pull all troops out today. He’s only doing the surge because the military would revolt on him.
I think he’d pull everyone out b/c he truly believes that would create lasting “peace” in the region.
He’s totally wrong. It would create a power vacuum that would be filled by warring radicals who have already proven they can bring destruction to our shores. He is a fool for believing this whole thing can be contained/ignored.
This decision was purely a political calculation, nothing more.
The man has no backbone. He did not look at the situation and say, militarily and strategically, this is what needs to be done.
He said, politically, here is what needs to happen in order to appease all sides.
What a complete mess.
This decision is his worst to date. By a long shot.
It will definitely play a huge role in defining his first (and I hope LAST) term.
You gotta look at this from the perspective of the average grunt on the ground. Here you are being sent to Afghanistan to be possibly killed or wounded knowing that in 18 months Obama is going to declare defeat and pull out. So what are you sacrificing yourself for? This has got to be a moral killer for the troops.
Make that “morale killer.” Gad, I hate making stupid spelling errors.
Great point. And actually sobering point. It renders the entire surge meaningless. Why do it?
Isn’t anyone just going to come out and say that this strategy is just flatly stupid? I mean seriously.
I guess there are the caveats that the withdrawal might be contingent on facts on the ground, etc. But given who is in charge, the assessment of those facts will more likely then not lead to a more rapid withdrawal then a commitment to stay until things improve.
Ugh.
Gates, et al, are already qualifying this statement in such a way.
Another good and accurate post FT. Head Muscle is currently in Southwest Asia. Posting this from Kuwait City at 5:50 am as the prayer call from the mosque right out side of my window woke me up cold.
We will be working with our nation’s finest all week and will be very interested to hear their take on the President’s newly stated policy.
One of the big questions asked here is, “What will the US do (or not do) next?” Kuwait is a shrimp between two whales (Iraq and Iran). When the whales fight the shrimp gets crushed. So they are very interested to see how this policy will play out.
More later…
Interesting, Chuck. Sounds like you really have a first-hand view on the ground with respect to this debate. Will you be bloggng about your perceptions, I assume? I’ll be very interested to read.
Thanks for posting.
You bet. Taking lots of pictures as well. I have not been here since the first Gulf War. It is amazing how much they have opened up here.
Off to the desert tomorrow.