Afghanistan: Could We, Should We Leave?

We have been here before–fighting and occupying countries with ancient hatreds and no history of anything resembling democracy–in Vietnam and Iraq. Lyndon Johnson’s pride led to humiliation, George W. Bush’s stubbornness to stalemate. Can Barack Obama’s rationality save us from more of the same in Afghanistan?

In the New York Times today, as the cheerleaders for the Surge argue for an encore, Leslie Gelb makes the opening argument in the case for “How to Leave Afghanistan.” It is an alternative the President should hear and consider.

The voters did not choose John McCain’s approach to fighting terrorism, and the Obama Administration has a moral obligation to explore other choices than the policies that bogged us down in Iraq and will keep us there indefinitely, no matter what the timetables say.

“Our strategy in Afghanistan,” Gelb argues, “should emphasize what we do best (containing and deterring, and forging coalitions) and downgrade what we do worst (nation-building in open-ended wars). It should cut our growing costs and secure our interests by employing our power more creatively and practically. It must also permit us–and this is critical–to focus more American resources and influence on the far more dire situation in Pakistan.”

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