Our essential objective in Afghanistan is achieved (though not our responsibility to her people). The strategy resulting in our continued presence as an occupying force was ever fatally flawed and it is time to reassess. Our security is being compromised. We are not pursuing al Qaeda effectively and never have.The recent report from General McChrystal is accurate on its face and in context but it is a narrow tactical vision that is inappropriately interpreted as strategy. It doesn’t rise to that level by necessity. The bigger picture is not his concern. He is there to win Afghanistan. Grand strategy is the realm of his masters. And they have failed him if he has been left to believe that Afghanistan is the greatest challenge to our nation’s security or the most immediate threat. They have themselves failed if they suffer the same vision that McCrystal enjoys. But there is no evidence that the military advice provided by Admiral Mullin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, served well either this or the previous President or that he is qualified in any area beyond the administration of forces; and even that is doubtful.
McChrystal is clearly an adept student of the small wars this nation fought and won at the beginning of the last century, but he is no von Clausewitz. He has written a thorough synopsis of the lessons from that period. And his proposals might work if Afghanistan were worth the national treasure and blood it would require for success. But it isn’t. Think about this: if we manage to hold on to establish the 400,000 man Afghan force necessary to maintain stability when we depart, the cost to maintain that force will be three times the current Afghan GDP. Let’s see…who will be the bill payer? And, if we pay it, who will keep it out of Swiss bank accounts. The reality is that it doesn’t matter if the rest of the world stands down while we take care of business there. When we leave, our imposed vision for another culture is not sustainable (unless we stay a thousand years). Oh, and meanwhile, where do you think al Qaeda will have been?
We cannot occupy every dark place where our enemies hide. Right now we can’t even locate them because our strategy focuses on a place rather than on them. Senator Webb, initiate a dialogue Sunday morning, please.
Cross posted at VBDems
