It is hard to believe that it was over forty days ago I wrote this post about the need for the President to decide on Afghanistan – and that a decision has still not been made. I understand the decision is not easy, but he has had enough time. The facts are there. The options are there. He needs to review them, think about them and decide.
I realize he does not want to rush, but it’s not like he has just had six weeks. The New York Times reported on August 24 that our military commanders in Afghanistan were saying they needed more troops. General McChrystal’s report was sent to the Pentagon on August 30. For that matter, President Obama was inaugurated over nine months ago.
The President’s indecision is making things worse in Afghanistan. Right now we are losing in Afghanistan. The longer President Obama waits to decide, the worse the situation will get and the farther we are going to have to come back once we do decide to try to turn things around (if that is what he decides).
Also, our indecision is driving away Afghans who might otherwise cooperate with us. The Afghanis are understandably leery of helping us if we might not be there to protect them. They are not going to help us unless they are confident we are going to stay. President Obama’s continuing indecision is making it harder and harder for our troops to convince the Afghanis that we will stay. And after this long, even if President Obama does decide to send the extra troops General McChrystal has said are needed for a proper counterinsurgency effort, will the Afghanis trust him to stay or will they worry he might change his mind the next time he has to decide something?
Some people say that President Obama should wait for the results of the Presidential run-off in Afghanistan before deciding what to do. What about the Afghanis? They might like to know what we are going to do before they decide who to support for President. The fact is there will always be something coming up that it would be nice to know before we decide. But we can’t wait – because then we would never decide.
President Obama needs to decide. And he needs to decide now.
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