Looking Back on the Surge in Afghanistan
It has been one year since the surge and the Afghanistan Study Group is marking this anniversary by taking a look at notable posts and commentary on the Afghanistan War.
In our survey last month, the poll showed that two-thirds of conservatives (including Tea Party supporters) support a reduction in troop levels in Afghanistan faster than what the Administration is proposing. And a majority of conservatives agree that the United States can dramatically lower the number of troops and money spent in Afghanistan without putting America at risk. (You can read the full poll results here.)
Here are some of the most important pieces we’ve written or read in 2011 (and one great outlier from 2010.)
The Solution in Afghanistan: Get out
2/18/11
By James P. McGovern and Walter B. Jones
No one, it seems, wants to talk about the war in Afghanistan. This week the House debated a budget bill that is touted as reflecting new fiscal restraint, yet borrows tens of billions more for the war. In an hour-long State of the Union address last month, President Obama devoted less than one minute to the conflict. Given the investment and sacrifices our country has made for nearly 10 years, the phones in our offices should be ringing off the hook with calls from those who are tired of being told that the United States doesn’t have enough money to extend unemployment benefits or invest in new jobs.
New Gallup Poll Echoes our Tea Party Survey: 72% of Americans Want Congress to Reduce Afghan Troop Presence Faster
2/8/11
Afghanistan Study Group by Will Keola Thomas
A USA Today / Gallup poll from January found that 72% of Americans favor Congressional action this year to speed up the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. The party breakdown of the poll showed that 86% of Democrats, 72% of independents, and 61% of Republicans would support a move by Congress to speed the withdrawal.
A Tale of Two GDPs
2/11/11
Afghanistan Study Group by Will Keola Thomas
The latest report from the outgoing Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) summarizes the progress made in laying the foundation for long-term and sustainable economic growth in Afghanistan, a key requirement of the U.S. stabilization strategy for the region.
N.Y.U. Report Casts Doubt on Taliban’s Ties With Al Qaeda
2/8/11
The New York Times by Carlotta Gall
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Afghan Taliban have been wrongly perceived as close ideological allies of Al Qaeda, and they could be persuaded to renounce the global terrorist group, according to a report to be published Monday by New York University. The report goes on to say that there was substantial friction between the groups’ leaders before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and that hostility has only intensified.
Memorials to Purposelessness
2/17/11
The Huffington Post by Matthew Hoh, Director Afghanistan Study Group
“This week marks the one-year anniversary of the US military offensive into Marjah in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. Operation Moshtarak, as it was called, was the largest military operation in Afghanistan since the removal of the Taliban regime in the fall of 2001. However, it served not just as a military operation, but also as a high profile public relations campaign and the “official” start of America’s escalation of the Afghan War.”
Afghanistan and Vietnam
11/23/10
New York Times by Robert Wright (Opinionator section)
“Last week at the NATO summit President Obama pushed the light at the end of the tunnel further down the tracks. By the end of 2014, he now tells us, American combat operations in Afghanistan will cease.
It’s not as if we need those four years to set any records. At just over nine years of age, this war is already the longest in American history. And this Saturday we’ll eclipse the Soviet Union’s misadventure in Afghanistan; the Soviets brought their own personal Vietnam to an end after nine years and seven weeks.
