Will he or won’t he? That is the question facing Barack Obama concerning more troops for Afghanistan. Military Commanders including General Stanley McChrystal, the commander in Afghanistan say that if Obama doesn’t send more troops the war will end in failure.
President Obama says that he won’t make a hasty decision about sending more troops to Afghanistan if it isn’t the right strategy. He said that he will not just send more young men and women over there without knowing for sure that it will lead to success, and that we are safer from terrorists for it.
Republicans and conservatives feel that Obama may be biding his time, waiting to see how his current domestic agenda fairs. Healthcare seems to be the only topic on President Obama’s mind at the moment. Meanwhile, men and women continue to fight and die in an 8 year long war in Afghanistan.
Obama finds himself in a precarious situation regarding sending more troops to Afghanistan. Some Democrats like Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Nancy Pelosi are voicing doubts about the war, while Republicans like John McCain are pressing for a quick decision on more troops.
Back in the spring, Obama made a commitment to send more troops and resources to Afghanistan with the stabilization of Iraq. A democratic clarion call during the 2006 and 2008 elections was that Iraq was receiving attention that Afghanistan desperately needed.
Since March, Obama has paid little more than lip service to Afghanistan and the situation on the ground. It’s been all healthcare all the time for the Obama Administration. Obama seems reluctant to commit to victory in Afghanistan. But the democrats surely won’t be saddled with a withdrawal that allows the Taliban to take back control of the country.
One feels that if Obama were going to send more troops to Afghanistan he would have said so and done it already. You get the feeling that the Obama domestic agenda is what he is using to measure his presidency. The only question is how does he distance himself from the Afghanistan War?
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