McChrystal Fired, Petraeus Takes over Afghan War

General Stanley McChrystal said some things to a Rolling Stone reporter that were less than flattering of the civilian leadership of America. Some of what his staff said was even worse. So yesterday, the general found himself out of a job much as McArthur did in the 1950s. General David Petraeus will now lead the Afghan war effort. President Obama said, "This is a change in personnel, but it's not a change in policy." That's too bad, as the current policy is failing.

This journal has supported President Obama since he was a junior senator from Illinois, and it has supported the war in Afghanistan since October 2001 (and wanted it to start in September of that year). So it is with deep regret that this journal must break with the White House on the war in Afghanistan. It is being fought with the wrong strategy in pursuit of noble but unachievable goals. It is a recipe for disappointment.

The intention is, as in Iraq-Nam, to provide sufficient security for the population to allow the politicians to create a stable government capable of taking over the security issues of the state. The current surge of troops is insufficient for the mountainous terrain, the Karzai government is too crooked to be a useful partner, and Afghanistan has never had a government so centralized. Moreover, Pakistan continues to fund and train the Taleban. In short, this isn't going to work.

The reason the US is in Afghanistan in the first place is the September 11 attacks by Al Qaeda which had used Afghanistan as their base of operations. Clearly, the US has an interest in ensuring that can't happen again. However, the desire to create an Afghanistan that looks like a stable European country is impractical. It would be far better to leave the Afghan people, who have a streak of xenophobia in their culture anyways, to their own devices. Meanwhile, the US would use special forces to hunt down bin Laden and his associates. Severe pressure on Pakistan to quit its destabilizing activities could only help as well.

The Obama administration remains committed to withdrawing from Afghanistan starting in July of next year. If the 94,000 troops there (probably about 85,000 too many) are to come home with something resembling success, it is necessary for General Petraeus to starting fighting a different war, a war to kill off Al Qaeda and not a war to create a new Afghanistan. Regrettably, that doesn't seem to be in the cards.

© Copyright 2010 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.

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