Afghanistan has no quick fix

We need more troops! No! Pull them all out! No! Stay there to kill the enemy! As usual, Republicans and Democrats are having their childish bickering session in Washington and around the country, this time on Afghanistan.

Everyone from Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., to former Vice President Dick Cheney is chiming in about the decisions that need to be made in Afghanistan. The Democrats want to either pull out or don’t want any increase in troops and Republicans want all the troops Gen. Stanley McChrystal requested. They all pretend like it is just that easy to fix the situation we have over there.

First off all, to the Democrats, pulling out or refusing to send more troops is not an option, and I think it’s time for them to realize that. Do they really believe we can ransack an entire country, pull right out, and everything will be better? Once the combat troops are taken out, al-Qaida and the Taliban will come right back across the border from Pakistan and take control. Eight years of numerous men and women losing their lives, many more wounded, and billions of dollars down the drain. Re-election must mean a lot huh?

And to the Republicans, who are so worried and distraught and losing sleep every single night over the fact that the White House hasn’t sent more troops yet, stop the charade. Even if the President Barack Obama granted McChrystal’s request and ordered 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, they wouldn’t even get there until next year. The troops Obama ordered earlier this year are just getting there now. When the memo from McChrystal leaked into the press, the GOP saw this as just another opportunity to score political points.

When Cheney was speaking before the conservative Center for Security Policy last week, he said: “The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger.”

You know, Cheney must have a very selective memory because from what I remember, in 2006, Bush took at least three months to craft the strategy for the surge in Iraq.

Afghanistan has a quagmire of problems and more troops or no troops is not the defining issue here. Sending more troops or pulling out is not a strategy, it is one element of an overall strategy. There is much more that needs to be done in the country but if you listen to Washington, you would never know that. You just hear the constant babbling of liberal and conservative talking points. Nothing more, nothing less.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 30 2009. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry