Yesterday the president spoke at a press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and reaffirmed U.S. commitment toward Afghanistan or at least until July 2011 troop withdrawal date. In the press conference president Obama stated, “ When I came into office, I made it absolutely clear that I intended to resource an effective strategy in Afghanistan and work with the Afghan government so that we have a strong, stable, prosperous Afghanistan. And I've used whatever political capital I have to make the case to the American people that this is in our national security interest that it's absolutely critical that we succeed on this mission.”
In the same press conference he also stated,” having put in more troops in Afghanistan over the last several months in order to break the momentum of the Taliban, that beginning in 2011, July, we will start bringing those troops down and turning over more and more responsibility to Afghan security forces that we are building up.”
What strategy is President Obama perusing? His wavering support for the mission by giving an arbitrary date has only emboldened the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban continue to intimidate local Afghan’s not to support the Americans because if you do we will kill you and your family! Everyone knows no matter what happens the Americans will leave just like they did after the Russians pulled out in 1989.
Taliban threats are real they know after we leave what will happen to them? Why would any Afghan risk his life or the lives their family by providing any support to the U.S.? This president has no clue or is just appeasing to his political base as liberal Democrats criticized President Bush for diverting attention to Iraq instead of fighting in Afghanistan. Now they speak a different tune when they control the power strings.
This policy of wanting to have it both ways will produce disastrous results and will only create instability and not bring any resolution to the conflict. This is now President Obama’s war and no one else!
