Thoughts On AfPak

TW: Final thoughts (for now) on Afghanistan. I like Obama's approach as much for what is not in it as for what is. There is little discussion of spreading democracy, creating a better Afghan society or for that matter drug eradication. Hopefully we are learning that messianic endeavors are both extremely costly (in blood and treasure) and not particularly attainable. I believe most of the folks opposing us in AfPak would just as soon be left alone. That may mean a lot of opium gets produced, many warlords thrive, women rights are severely lacking etc.

But at the end of the day I think the only thing we really can and should care about is tamping down and if possible eliminating the relatively small group of folks who not only want run their own affairs in an unappealing way but also export their screwed up ways to us via terror. In other words we leave them alone if they leave us alone, which was the status quo up until 9/11.

To the extent Obama retains this approach then I believe our troop commitments will be minimized whilst providing us with the greatest chance for success in achieving these more limited objectives. In doing so we provide our allies with a more clear end state one which they should step up to support more aggressively than they have to date.

The one piece I would like to see Obama add is one W. Bush never really did- ask for sacrifice from the American people. W. Bush made broad pronouncements regarding the profound nature of the Iraq and AfPak situations yet never asked Americans to pay the financial cost (we had tax cuts instead) or initiate some level of national service. Putting Iraq to the side, if AfPak is sufficiently strategic then Americans should be willing to sacrifice. Certainly Americans were willing to make sacrifices post 9/11 but were not really asked to do so. If we are going to ask hundreds of thousands of troops to alter their lives and perhaps lose them, if we are going to spend trillions on these wars (which we have and will continue to do so), Americans should be asked to face up to the realities- financially, politically and personally.

The Europeans frequently appears unwilling to do so, are Americans really ready to do so?