In an editorial last Tuesday, Washington Post columnist George Will, a prominent conservative voice, called for “rapidly reversing the trajectory of America’s involvement in Afghanistan.” The piece was plainly titled: “Time to Get Out of Afghanistan.”
Will is not alone. He reflects the relatively new and growing belief that the War in Afghanistan is unwinnable and that the policy for the war should be “comprehensively revised.” He argues that U.S. forces should have a more limited fighting role, shifting from a strategy of a large deployment of ground troops to a to war conducted from offshore using “intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, airstrikes and small, potent Special Forces units” rather than large deployment of ground troops.
This turn of opinion puts President Obama in a difficult position, because he just ordered a surge of some 20,000 more troops into Afghanistan. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Democrats referred to Afghanistan as the “the right war” and Iraq as the “the wrong war.” Republicans also believed more had to be done to win in Afghanistan.
Now that President Obama is following through on his campaign pledge to redouble efforts in Afghanistan, public opinion is turning against him. Even some conservative voices who have traditionally supported efforts in Afghanistan are growing skeptical. In a CNN poll released last Thursday, 57 percent of Americans polled said that they oppose the war and only 40 percent of those polled said that they believe the war is winnable.
It appears that the American public is no longer willing to commit the blood, resources, and time necessary to achieve success in Afghanistan. But ending our commitment would be a terrible mistake and would have serious consequences.
Granted, as we expand our efforts in Afghanistan, the cost of the war will escalate, violence will intensify, and more Americans will be killed. While no one wants to see more losses, the war in Afghanistan is still the right war to fight.
If U.S. forces were to pull out of Afghanistan, as many now argue they should, it would be a disaster for the U.S., the region, and our allies.
Our retreat would allow the Taliban to retake full control of the county. Hamid Karzai’s weak government would quickly fall, and Afghanistan would again become an Al-Qaeda sanctuary.
Retreat from Afghanistan would also mean turning our backs on the Afghani people. Without U.S. forces present, the Taliban would mercilessly restore their brutal, undemocratic rule over the Afghani people, many of whom bravely supported the U.S. in the belief that we would help them. The Taliban would not hesitate to persecute the Afghani citizens who helped a group of Marines find a roadside bomb, or the Afghani people who publically voiced dissenting opinions.
If America turns its back on Afghanistan, we will also have lost a vital, strategically important territory. Afghanistan borders Iran and Pakistan; our exit from Afghanistan would allow Iran greater influence in the region and would further destabilize nuclear-armed Pakistan. We cannot allow anti-Western countries to dominate the balance of power in such an important region.
George Will’s strategy of victory through disengagement cannot possibly work. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last Thursday that the idea that you can fight the War in Afghanistan from offshore “does not accord with reality.” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, also concluded that “there is no way to defeat Al-Qaeda … remotely and you can’t do it from offshore.”
General Stanley A. McChrystal, the commander for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, will soon request additional troops for Afghanistan to support his new, redesigned mission there. Just as the change of policy known as the “surge” in Iraq brought tremendous results when we thought all was lost, the new plan for Afghanistan has the potential for success.
Retreat in Afghanistan would mean a strengthened and emboldened Al-Qaeda, an enemy we would be forced to fight again in the future. We cannot allow all that we’ve sacrificed to be for naught because we didn’t have the fortitude to keep fighting when “the right war” became difficult.
