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Midday Open Thread: No More Troops For Afghanistan |
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Unsurprisingly, the U.S.’s NATO allies have just about turned down requests to deploy additional troops to Afghanistan:
Afghanistan loomed as the summit’s No. 1 topic, a point of contention between some Europeans who see the NATO mission as largely a humanitarian effort and the Bush administration and others who see it as a central front in the fight against terrorism.
Canada had threatened to pull its troops from the front lines in southern Afghanistan unless other allies sent an additional 1,000 combat troops to help.
NATO has about 47,000 troops in Afghanistan, but commanders are pleading for more troops in the south, where Taliban insurgents are wreaking the most havoc.
With the Pentagon admitting it doesn’t have enough troops to send to Afghanistan because it is refusing to draw down force levels in Iraq, it appears we’re stuck.
Certainly, this is our “war on terror.” Even if Afghanistan wasn’t invaded with a “coalition of the willing,” our strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan is so linked (and faulty) that we own it, and it’s hard to argue with Europe when they say we’re the ones who have to fight it. Still, we’ve simply got no more troops. Afghanistan is where the real action is, not least because we still have leverage to produce positive results there - unlike in Iraq.
Afghanistan is winnable, if we change our strategy. With Bush in the lead, it’s not likely. Do you agree?
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