The Debate On What To Do In Afghanistan -- A Commentary

GWASHTA GUARD - U.S. Army Spc. Manuel Calderon provides over-watch security atop a mountain during Operation Gwashta Pass in Paktika province, Afghanistan, May 25, 2011. Calderon is assigned to the 101st Airborne Division's 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team. The mission provided additional security for a convoy that was traveling in the area. U.S. Army photo by Spc. George N. Hunt

The White House Debates Afghanistan—Again -- Fred Kaplan, Slate

Should Obama withdraw a lot of troops or just a few; change the war strategy or stay the course?

The White House debate over how many troops to withdraw from Afghanistan next month is really a surrogate for a larger, more fractious debate over the wisdom and strategy of the war itself.

It marks a reopening of a crucial debate that occupied President Barack Obama's national-security advisers for most of his first year in office. At the end of that year, after a series of 10 meetings with those advisers, Obama settled the argument by deciding to send 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan (in addition to the 70,000 already there). But he also announced that he'd start withdrawing some of those troops in July 2011. That deadline is next month (time flies!), and so the president must soon decide how many to pull out.

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My Comment: This debate on what we should do in Afghanistan should have been done a long time ago .... fortunately .... while this debate is late .... we are now at least having it.

What do I personally hope for .... a realization that even if we stay in Afghanistan for 10 years and spend another $1-$2 trillion dollars .... nothing is going to change, and we should focus on keeping a very limited presence and let the Afghan's sort out what they want in the end.

What I expect .... a continued stay in the country, and a military focus against groups like the Haqqani network.