ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Duke's Damage Control</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style4 { font-size: x-large; } .style5 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> <table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="116" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <a href="081609.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="24" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="465" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="18" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="283" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr height="26"> <td width="624" height="26" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="1"> <td width="116" height="2574" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="489" height="1" colspan="3"></td> <td width="18" height="2574" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> <tr height="2573"> <td width="489" height="2573" colspan="3" align="left" xpos="116" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="5"><b> <br /> <br /> Obama&#39;s Afghan Agony</b></font><p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> by John M. Curtis<br> (310) 204-8700</b><br> </font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright Oct. 9, 2009<br> All Rights Reserved.</i></font></p> <p><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="style4">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="style5">R</span>eassessing Afghan strategy, President Barack Obama faces pressure from all sides to escalate an unpopular war whose outcome, regardless of troop increases, is far from certain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>U.S. Afghan War commander Gen. Stanley McCrystal, who recently completed a 66-page review, advocates adding 40,000 more troops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>When Obama campaigned in 2008, it was easy to paint a black-or-white picture with Iraq and Afghanistan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He criticized former President George W. Bush for his obsession with Iraq, neglecting the real war on terror in Afghanistan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While he urged an exit strategy in Iraq, he suggested he d re-deploy troops to Afghanistan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Now that he s commander-in-chief, the president has serious reservations about bumping up U.S. troops beyond the 21,000 he added in March.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Barack must assess whether adding more troops adds to accomplishing the mission. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Since adding extra troops last March, U.S. death rates have quintupled, now averaging about 80 deaths a month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>McChrystal sees more deterioration without adding significant numbers of troops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Barack is trying to reset the Afghanistan mission, initially designed Oct. 7, 2001 as Operation Enduring Freedom to topple the Taliban government, believed sheltering Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While ranking GOP member of the senate Armed Services Committed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) seeks a 40,000-man  troop surge, the president wants to redefine the mission. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;</span>Barack and Vice President Joe Biden continue to see Bin Laden, not the Taliban, as a global threat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Continuing the war against the Taliban makes no sense without going after al-Qaida.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama and Biden want to redirect U.S. technology to eventually kill or capture Bin Laden and Taliban Chief Mullah Mohammed Omar.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>As the U.S. learned in Iraq, more boots on the ground translate into higher casualty rates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama and Biden want to target al-Qaida and Taliban with predator drones technology and Special Forces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> The troop resources request has certainly come up, said an unnamed White House aid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> But the large focus is strategy, signaling that Obama won t bend to pressure from his own Cabinet, generals or GOP critics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Under Bush, the Afhgan mission abandoned the search for Osama bin Laden and morphed into defending the Karazi government from the Taliban.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Since declaring victory September 9, the Karzai government has been accused of voter fraud, calling into question the legitimacy of the election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama must now decide whether or not to heed commanders request for more troops or come up with a new strategy designed to deal with recent developments.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Karzai s potential election fraud presents problems for U.S. going forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While Obama would like to hold the line against the Taliban, he also knows that the Afghan people won t support an illegitimate U.S. puppet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> The troop resource request has certainly come up, said an unnamed White House aid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> But the larger focus is on strategy, signaling Obama s reluctance to revert to the Bush-Cheney paradigm of only military intervention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, while leaning toward honoring McChrystal s troop requests, hasn t been too keen on adding troops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bush and Cheney repeatedly justified troop increase in Iraq by claiming al-Qaida would take over the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Gates also worries about a Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, insisting Obama would not let that happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> The president has a different obligation than his commanders, said the White House aid.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>For years during the Iraq War, Bush and Cheney went with battlefield commanders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama has reasserted his role as commander-in-chief, accepting responsibility for making key strategic decisions with respect to the wars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Battlefield commanders seek the best possible way to fulfill their mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Barack has redefined the mission not to eradicate the Taliban but rather to prevent them from taking back Kabul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> He needs to see this in a global context, said the aid, referring to the short and long-term effect of the war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>If escalating the war to protect an illegitimate government robs the U.S. of the moral high ground in Afghanistan, then Barack sees fit to change the mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Barack believes in  linkage between prosecuting the war and encouraging favorable relations with other Middle East countries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He doesn t want to win the battle and lose the war.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Barack s reluctance to rubber-stamp the request of battlefield commanders in Afghanistan stems from the fact that the U.S. failed its initial mission of getting Osama bin Laden or the Taliban s Mullah Mohammed Omar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Unlike al-Qaida, the Taliban is a nationalistic Islamic movement, attempting to reestablish its oppressive theocracy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Had it not been for the Taliban support of Osam bin Laden, the U.S. probably wouldn t have toppled the Taliban in 2001.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While the military has equated al-Qaida and the Taliban, the truth is that the two are separate and distinct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Few experts believe the Taliban has ambitions behind Afghanistan and Pakistan, whereas al-Qadia seeks to destabilize world governments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Had Mullah Mohammed Omar handed over Bin Laden in 2001, he d probably be in power today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama wants to rethink the mission before jumping ahead with more troops.</p> <p><b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.&nbsp; He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet </a>and <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma.</a></p> </td> <td width="1" height="2573"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2573"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="116" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="116" height="1"></td> <td width="24" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="24" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="283" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="283" height="1"></td> <td width="18" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="18" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Homene.net" target="_blank">img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">&copy;1999-2002 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>