As President Obama continues his search for a strategy for Afghanistan (I think it took Stanley less time to find Dr. Livingston), the latest delay seems to be the result of President Obama wanting exit strategies for the various options.
Well, here is an exit strategy: Win. It is the exit strategy we used in World War II and World War I and the Civil War and the Revolutionary War. It was, more appropriately, the exit strategy for ending the fighting in Korea. We fought until we accomplished what we needed to accomplish, i.e., until we "won," and then we stopped fighting.
But this doesn’t seem to be what President Obama is looking for. In spite of what he said back in the campaign about how important Afghanistan was, now that he is president, he seems to be looking for a way to get out so he can focus on the things he really cares about – which is a concern.
If you are going to do something like Afghanistan, you have to want to do it. If can’t be something that is a distraction, that you want to hurry up and get done with, so you can do something else. That was the problem that Lyndon Johnson had in Vietnam. In fact, if there is any appropriate comparison between Vietnam and Afghanistan, it is not in the wars themselves, it is in how the president approaches them. Vietnam was a distraction for Lyndon Johnson. It wasn’t what he wanted to do. It wasn’t what he wanted to focus on. And it wound up being a disaster for him.
I get a feeling that this is what Afghanistan is becoming for President Obama. He has to deal with it, but it’s not his priority. He wants to know how he can get out, so he can do what really matters.
If that is so, then it might be better to just get out now. I think we should stay in and devote enough resources to win. I think it would be really bad for us to give up and get out now. But it would be even worse if we don’t devote enough attention and resources to stay in and win. We’ll lose anyway, and it will cost more than if we just get out now. If Afghanistan is not important enough to President Obama that he will make it one of his absolute priorities, then let’s leave now. It will only be worse later.
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