Lingering Questions about Afghanistan

President Obama’s Afghanistan speech outlined an ill-conceived strategy for our country and only encouraged our enemies to muddle through until late 2011 to once again re-emerge. I support sending more troops to Afghanistan and the pressure he wants to place on Pakistan. Yet, President Obama should have listened to General McCrystal’s recommendation of 60,000 – 80,000 troops to ensure a low-risk strategy.

Also, he should not have explained our game plan to our enemies: when troops will begin pulling out, what markers of progress there will be, and the short time span given to train Afghan police. Our enemies (Al Qaeda and the Taliban) understand Sun Tzu concepts in his masterpiece “The Art of War.” They recognize that they can lay low, wait until American troops withdraw, and then attack after a perceived U.S. victory in late 2011. They know the art of deception; it is their modus operandi.

As far as the Afghan army, how long will it take the U.S military to properly and effectively train them? Will they be able to resist the Taliban if they re-emerge with only 18 (maybe 15 once additional troops actually arrive) months of additional training? Will the Afghan people, whose hearts and minds we seek to win over, continue to support the U.S. coalition? The Afghan people know that as soon as America pre-maturely pull outs of Afghanistan the Taliban will sweep in and once again brutalize them. We can only hope this new strategy accounts for these questions and that we can continue to beat back terrorists who threaten our country, our military, and our values.