In his Tuesday night speech, President Barack Obama outlined his strategy for the war in Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan is not lost,” the president began, in a Lyndon B. Johnson-esque commitment to escalate the war.
Obama’s argument for the surge revolves around the notion that Afghanistan and Pakistan are the “epicenter” of al-Qaida activities. Preventing al-Qaida from again gaining a foothold in the region, according to Obama, is critical to U.S. safety. He called on Americans to unite behind this common purpose as they did after 9/11.
But this is eight years later. We are not hastily responding to an attack on U.S. soil.
Rather, this is a calculated decision that has been long in the making — many would argue too long.
Blindly trusting the administration’s judgment and uniting behind this cause is not what the circumstances call for.
Obama’s decision, if it can be implemented by a military already stretched thin, will send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, bringing the U.S. troop presence in the nation to more than 100,000.
Some on the Editorial Board are inclined to simply trust the president; who could possibly be better informed on the issue?
But the fact is that Afghanistan is nothing more than a bunch of unrelated tribes, loosely grouped together by a corrupt, ineffective federal government. The Taliban is gaining strength. Security has been deteriorating for years.
Okay, but what happens if we leave?
Yes, some of us at the Alligator are guilty of this line of thinking too. But “what happens if we leave” is no real excuse to stay engaged in a war.
