Obama has a big problem in Afghanistan -- one of many problems he was handed by his predecessor the walking national disaster George Bush.
Actually to be precise he has two problems: Afghanistan the military/geopolitical problem, and Afghanistan the political problem.
As far as the military/geopolitical problem, I am deeply skeptical that having a bunch of frightened, heavily armed, militarized 18-year-old American kids running around Afghanistan can do any good, advance the national interest, at all. There are rare times when force makes the world a better place, so I am open to well-reasoned arguments from those who are actually on the ground there, but they would have to be awfully well reasoned.
As far as Obama's domestic political problem, however, I know exactly what I would do if I were president. I would announce that I am withdrawing all U.S. forces from Afghanistan within x months unless Congress approves a declaration of war. The country is divided? Obama is in danger of being painted as soft on terror if he does anything less than a full-bore commitment to this war? His base is getting mad at him for considering escalation? Simple: throw the vote to the people. Let Congress debate the issue. Let members of Congress hear from their constituents on the matter. Let talk radio light up over the issue. Let letters to the editor flow. Let the talking heads argue for hours on end. And then let the people's representatives make a decision. And then honor that decision.
You know what? The Founding Fathers knew what they were doing when they invested Congress with the power to declare war, and all the other powers that Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution gives to Congress to deal with national security issues. We're supposed to be living in a democracy and warmaking -- when it is not an emergency decision -- is supposed to be a decision that is up to the people's representatives. The Cold War and 9/11 have so distorted our democratic system that nobody bats an eye that one guy -- Obama -- is going to decide what our nation will do in Afghanistan.
By following my suggestion, Obama can kill 2 birds with one stone: take the weight of the political decision off his own shoulders, and start to restore the health of our democratic system of government.
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