Obama’s Afghanistan Challenge

Commentary Magazine ^ | July 1, 2008 | Abe Greenwald

[Jbny]

What does Barack Obama propose to do about the continued setbacks in the war? (Not that war. The war in Afghanistan!) Today, CNN reports that June has been the second consecutive month during which coalition troop deaths in Afghanistan outnumbered those in Iraq. Moreover, June saw more troop deaths than any month since the start of the war in 2001. According to a new Pentagon report, Taliban violence has spread from isolated pockets into larger, previously calm, areas of the country. Furthermore, the Taliban is challenging local government authority in the East and the South.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates places partial blame on the recent ceasefire arrangements between the Pakistan government and Taliban members in tribal regions of that country. With no crackdown from Pakistan’s military, Taliban fighters have free passage into Afghanistan.

If getting Pakistan’s government to help in the fight against the Taliban is the most pressing issue of the war, Barack Obama is in trouble. His indelicately phrased chest-thump about sending troops into Pakistan has done long-term damage to his credibility in that country. The AP reported:

[RC2]

I still find it hard to believe that close to half of our people here in the States give this guy, Obama, any credibility.

[kromike]

Simple. Obama's logic (if you want to really call it that) is to reduce troop deaths by reducing troop presence. If they're not there in Afghanistan, then ergo, they won't be killed.

Obammy will just ship 'em off to Darfur, where the UN will order our soldiers to stand by while millions of Africans are wantonly slaughtered.

But they "support the troops", doncha know!