Obama Must Decide on Afghanistan Now

The Pressing Afghanistan Issue and Others May Define the President

Oct 8, 2009

The war in Afghanistan continues to be at the forefront of media headlines. Immense pressure is being placed squarely on President Obama to act quickly and decisively.

What’s Happening Now

The situation continues to deteriorate in Afghanistan as troop morale is at an all time low. In a recent timesonline.co.uk story by Martin Fletcher, American troops in Afghanistan losing heart, say army chaplains, Captain Sam Rico was quoted as saying, “They feel they are risking their lives for progress that’s hard to discern.”

The president has decided to dedicate some time to the war as he and his national security team conducted a three hour session on the matter according to foxnews.com/politics. That room was home to differing opinions about the strategy that should be employed. Foxnews.com went on to report, “Members of the president's national security team argued that the Taliban in Afghanistan do not pose a direct threat to the U.S., officials told The New York Times. It was unclear if everyone in the war council accepted the premise.”

The decision placed in front of the president at this time is whether or not to send the additional troops asked for by Gen. Stanley McChrystal in his request, which was given to Obama before his trip to Copenhagen that resulted in a failed attempt to get the 2016 Olympics awarded to Chicago.

Additionally Vice President Joe Biden shared his alternative view, as described by foxnews.com, on the matter by stating that he was not in favor sending additional troops, but rather would like to see unmanned drones employ surgical bombing strikes against Taliban strongholds

McChrystal’s Strategy

Gen. McChrystal is asking for an additional 40,000 troops. His idea is to employ a strategy that is similar to the Iraq 2008 troop surge under then President George Bush. Foxnews.com reports, “McChrystal's recommended approach calls for additional troops in Afghanistan for a counterinsurgency campaign to defeat the Taliban, build up the central government and deny Al Qaeda a haven.” Obama may side with McChrystal’s recommendation, Vice President Biden’s assessment, or somewhere in between.

Regardless of political leanings one can be certain that the 2008 Iraq troop surge did work. Stephen Biddle of the Council of Foreign Relations was quoted in a January 2008 voanews.com article as saying, “The attitude toward Americans is very different, the stability on the ground is very different in much, not all, but in much of the country and I found it quite striking.”

The Afghanistan war is just one of many very serious issues for Obama to deal with. Along with the war, the president is faced with the shrinking American dollar; rising unemployment; and an unprecedented deficit (at $1.4 trillion dollars according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) as reported by finance.yahoo.com), are among the issues that will certainly test the president’s policy making skills

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