Threatening to reduce U.S. forces in Afghanistan from 9,800 to 5,500, Senate Armed Services Chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned President Barack Obama about reducing U.S. troop strength. Concerned about the 15-year military operation in Afghanistan failing, McCain and Graham urged Obama to not make the same mistake as Iraq. Obama withdrew U.S. combat forces in Iraq Dec. 15, 2011, giving rise to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS], seizing some 30% of Iraq and Syria’s sovereign territory. While it’s true former President Bush agreed to a withdrawal date and former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wouldn’t give the U.S. and immunity agreement, pulling the plug on Iraq gave rise to ISIS, creating havoc around the globe. McCain and Graham urged Obama to refrain from making more mistakes in the Middle East.
U.S. forces entered Afghanistan Oct. 7, 2001 in Operation Enduring Freedom, only three weeks after Sept. 11. Afghan’s Taliban government back then refused to hand over Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, after giving him save haven outside Kabul, not long after taking power in 1996. While in Afghanistan, Bin Laden staged terrorist attacks against U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenyan and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Aug. 7, 1998, killing 224, injuring 4,000. Two years later, Bin Laden struck the U.S.S. Cole Oct. 12, 2000, killing 17 U.S. sailors, injuring 39. Less than a year later, Sept. 11, killing 2,996, injuring 8,000 in New York City and the Pentagon. Former President Bill Clinton didn’t take Bin Laden’s threat seriously, doing little to end the rampage of the world’s most lethal terrorist. McCain and Graham see Obama’S counter-terrorism strategy as retreating to a pre-Sept. 11 mindset.
When you consider the growing attacks by ISIS and al-Qaeda around the globe, ceding ISIS safe havens in Iraq, Syria and Libya has cost the world dearly. “I cannot guarantee success if we keep 9,800, but I can ensure you failure if we to 5,500,” Graham told reporters visiting U.S. forces with McCain July 4. Visiting U.S. forces for the July 4 holiday, MeCain and Graham traveled with Sen. Benjamin Sasse (D-Neb.) and Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) to boost morale. McCain and Graham have been especially critical of Obama’s Mideast policies, urging Obama for the last three years to set up a no-fly zone in Syria. Without the no-fly zone, Syrians fled the fighting, flooding neighboring countries, eventually Europe, creating the biggest humanitarian crisis since WWII. McCain and Graham have repeatedly urged Obama to end his pre-Sept. 11 counter-terrorism mindset.
Graham fears that if Obama reduces U.S. forces in Afghanistan, the extremist Taliban insurgency could toppled the U.S. backed government of 67-year-old Prime Minister Mohammad Asraf Ghani. “I will have a hard time supporting our continued presence here as it’s not fair to those left behind . . . They just can’t do the job, if we go to 5,500 this place will fall apart, quickly,” said Graham, putting the White House on notice not to order more troop reductions. If the Taliban takes over Kabul, it would embolden ISIS, al-Qaeda and every other Wahhabi terrorist group plaguing the Middle East and North Africa. McCain was especially critical of Obama handcuffing U.S. forces in Afghanistan, restricting them from going after the Taliban. “The rules of engagement were so restrictive that it gave an advantage to the Taliban and other terrorist groups,” said McCain.
Obama’s counter-terrorism policy has become so chaotic, so ineffectual, so counterproductive that ISIS and other Wahhabi terrorist groups have run amok around the Middle East, now washing up in Europe and the United States. Without aggressively pursuing ISIS on the battlefield in Iraq, Syria and Libya, Obama let ISIS recruit, plan and execute more terrorists acts around the globe. Backing the Saudi proxy war in Syria, Obama put the U.S. on the same side as ISIS and al-Qaeda in toppling Syrian Shiite President Bashar al-Assad. Obama’s policy directly pits the U.S. against Russian President Vladimir Putin who backs al-Assad’s right to defend his sovereignty. Obama and his Secretary of State John Kerry can’t explain why the U.S. backs the Saudi proxy war in Syria, putting the U.S. on the same side as ISIS and al-Qaeda, both feverishly seeking to topple al-Assad.
With Iraq, Syria and Libya a mess, McCain and Graham want assurances from Obama that he won’t pull the rug out from underneath Afghanistan. “Ultimately we’re going to win this fight, it’s just going to take decades,” said Sasse, urging the White House to not abandon Afghanistan. Toppling dictators in Iraq, Egypt and Libya, and now Syria has only added to the rise of ISIS and other Islamic extremists groups in North Africa and the Middle East. “The American people well understand that staying partnered with a good ally like the Afghan government is the best way to deny future safe havens to those would plot jihadi attack across the globe,” said Sasse, letting Obama know that Democrats and Republicans unite on denying terrorists safe havens. Letting ISIS have a safe haven in Iraq, Syria and Libya has only accelerated terrorism in the Middle East and elsewhere.
