Afghanistan: Moving Forward

Campus Report ^ | September 14, 2009 | Brittany Fortier

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Afghanistan: Moving Forward

by: Brittany Fortier, September 14, 2009

Charting a course for United States policy in Afghanistan poses many challenges as well as many opportunities. A panel hosted by the Heritage Foundation on August 27, 2009 discussed Afghanistan’s uncertain future and how to provide stability for the region.

“In the last ninety days or so…we’ve seen many changes in both leadership and strategy and resources,” said Lt. Gen. David W. Barno (USA-Ret.), Director of the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. “It’s clear as we look at the dimensions of the challenges [in Afghanistan] that we’re in a critical period of time.”

Barno said that the “next twelve to eighteen months” will be crucial in deciding the outcome of the conflict. He also stressed the importance of “restor[ing] the trust between the Afghan government and their people.”

“That [trust] has been fractured over the last three-and-a-half years or so. During my [time] there from [20]03-[20]05, there was a great deal of respect, trust, confidence, optimism between the people of Afghanistan and their emerging government. That is not true today and that has to change,” he said.

Barno described the Taliban strategy as “run[ning] out the clock” on the opposition. For this reason, Barno argued that the support of the American people is critical to achieving success in Afghanistan, because the Taliban strategy is “deeply rooted in our history there.”

Barno added that he has been approached by Afghans expressing concerns about whether the United States would abandon Afghanistan before the conflict is resolved...

[JaneNC]

Big mistake to abandon and big mistake to not listen to the military leaders.