OFFICIALLY DITHERING

When General Stanley McChrystal, the US Commander in Afghanistan gave his assessment regarding the current conditions in Afghanistan and a plan going forward on August 30, 2009, I do not think he thought there would be a two month delay before a decision would be made. When President Obama made his statement about dismantling and defeating al Qaeda, we all thought he was serious. Now that his liberal wing is calling for a full redeployment from Afghanistan, a decision has not been made.

Since the release of the initial assessment and General McChrystal's troop request, more than 107 American soldiers have died in Afghanistan while President Obama, as Vice President Dick Cheney put it, is "dithering" in making this decision.

Over the past week, information has leaked out that President Obama is contemplating a “hybrid” option that would give General McChrystal less than the prescribed 40,000 troop number but would also implement a partial counterterrorism strategy, which Vice President Joe Biden has been lobbying for. The current troop levels, NATO and all coalition forces are estimated to be about 100,000 in Afghanistan, with 68,000 being American forces. Add the 40,000 troops that the general requested for the counterinsurgency strategy to work, and then subtract the number of troops that were requested but did not make it into President Obama’s strategy and then subtract those who will be focusing on the counterterrorism efforts and not the COIN operations. Right now, we do not know that number, but to put the operations into context, General McChrystal will have less force to focus on the counterinsurgency strategy that he has set out.

When politics comes into play, as it clearly has over the past few months, beginning when Nancy Pelosi mentioned in August that President Obama would face opposition if he wanted to increase the troop levels in Afghanistan, the “decider” faces pressure from all directions. Current polling suggests that it is about 48% of the public opposes sending more troops and 46% believe that you should supply the General with the resources he needs to succeed.

This is a war that we have been fighting for more than eight years now, that for six of the eight years had been under-resourced and allowed the Taliban and al Qaeda to gain the initiative. The status quo is not the answer, with the credibility of the government being called into question and the looks of the run-off election in Afghanistan between President Karzai and his challenger Abdullah Abdullah already with calls of fraud and boycott. The Afghan people need to be reassured of their safety. Currently, the Taliban and al Qaeda act as mayors in these towns promising to provide protection, as long as they do not aid the coalition forces, which could result in the loss of their life if the citizens do so. The people are looking for safety, and the only groups that have stepped up to the plate are those who wish to terrorize. The counterinsurgency strategy would provide for troops to assist and aid in each community and province and essentially root out the insurgents.

With that being said, successes need to be made. The violence is paralyzing the Afghan society and without any sign of success by the coalition forces, the will of the coalition will continue to erode only allowing the enemy to celebrate because their end goal is to see us leave the region in defeat. To avoid such a disaster, the strategy must be changed, but to continue to wait only puts more troops in danger and the American people will continue to question President Obama’s role as Commander in Chief. General McChrystal spent over three months putting together a strategy based on conditions on the ground, President Obama has met with his military and political advisors for less than 30 hours to discuss the Afghan strategy in a matter of six weeks. If you were the American soldier or an Afghan citizen, who would you wish to have your fate in the hands of?