The Afghanistan Weekly Reader – May 6, 2011. Can we leave Afghanistan Now?
As Washington bathes in the afterglow of Sunday night’s success, there has been a marked change in perspective on the war in Congress. Members from both parties have begun to question the rationale for maintaining the presence of over 100,000 troops in Afghanistan at a cost of $120 billion a year while the U.S. is mired in recession and the real threat to national security lies across the border in Pakistan and in other areas of the world. However, instead of seizing the political opportunity presented by Bin Laden’s death and re-aligning America’s involvement with its interests through an accelerated drawdown of troops that would save lives and billions of dollars, the Obama administration and congressional leaders in both parties maintained their stubborn allegiance to the counterproductive status quo.
Their intransigence raises the question of whether bin Laden’s goal of crippling the United States economically by engaging it in endless war might still be achieved even after his death. Thankfully, there are those who correctly assess the threat and the strategy, ending the war in Afghanistan, required to avoid it. You can find their perspectives in this week’s Reader.
From the ASG Blog
10 years into the longest war in U.S. history: Is it too much to ask for a plan?
Afghanistan Study Group by Will Keola Thomas
On Thursday, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) introduced new legislation that would require the Obama administration to present an exit strategy for U.S. forces from Afghanistan. You heard right.
Articles
A ‘Radical’ Plan To Cut Military Spending
NPR by NPR Staff
Ret. Army Col. Douglas Macgregor says there are ways to reap major savings when it comes to defense. He recently wrote about the subject in an article titled “Lean, Mean Fighting Machine” for Foreign Policy magazine. He tells Guy Raz, host of weekends on All Things Considered, that the U.S. simply cannot afford “wars of choice.”
World War II was the last military event that really had a strategic global impact, he says. “Americans need to understand that these wars of choice, these interventions of choice, have been both unnecessary, counterproductive, strategically self-defeating and infinitely too expensive for what we can actually afford.”
Costly Afghanistan Road Project Is Marred by Unsavory Alliances
New York Times by Alissa J. Rubin and James Risen
The money paid to Mr. Arafat bought neither security nor the highway that American officials have long envisioned as a vital route to tie remote border areas to the Afghan government. Instead, it added to the staggering cost of the road, known as the Gardez-Khost Highway, one of the most expensive and troubled transportation projects in Afghanistan. The 64-mile highway, which has yet to be completed, has cost about $121 million so far, with the final price tag expected to reach $176 million — or about $2.8 million a mile — according to American officials. Security alone has cost $43.5 million so far, U.S.A.I.D. officials said.
For U.S. Troops in Afghanistan, bin Laden’s Death Changes Nothing
TIME by Jason Motlagh
Osama bin Laden’s death is making waves around the world. But among U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan, the country from which the al-Qaeda chief and 9/11 mastermind once declared war on the United States, there was barely a ripple. At a large recreational facility on Kandahar Air Field, about three dozen troops gathered around a pair of big-screen televisions Monday morning to tune into President Barack Obama’s announcement. There were no impromptu cheers or chatter to be heard, just crossed arms and blank expressions. Nearly as many troops continued shooting pool and playing video games in background, nonplussed by the news.
“It’s not like we’re gonna get up and leave right away,” says Sgt. Scott Willoughby. “[Bin Laden] is dead, but we’re still here.”
Himes Sours On Afghanistan War: ‘I’m Done’
The Huffington Post by Amanda Terkel
WASHINGTON — As public frustration with the war in Afghanistan grows, Rep. Jim Himes has reached a tipping point. The Connecticut Democrat has concluded that the war cannot be won. “I am increasingly adamant that we are not going to change the country,” said Himes at a town hall meeting hosted by the local League of Women Voters in on Monday, according to the Greenwich Patch.
Ron Paul’s Call For Afghanistan Withdrawal Draws Cheers At Fox News GOP Debate (VIDEO)
HuffPost Politics by Amanda Terkel
WASHINGTON — With the death of Osama bin Laden dominating the news cycle and captivating the public this week, the five Republican presidential hopefuls who showed in South Carolina Thursday for the Fox News debate were asked to explain their position on the war in Afghanistan. Fox News host Brett Baier brought up the issue in one of the first questions of the night, asking former senator Rick Santorum about his claim that President Obama has made America less safe.
Opinion
Getting the transition right
Boston.com by John F. Kerry
IN TWO months, the Obama administration will announce critical choices about the next phase of its Afghanistan strategy: how to begin drawing down US forces so Afghans can assume greater responsibility for their own country. We know the transition will take time, and many believe it won’t be finished by 2014, the date President Hamid Karzai says he wants full control of his country.
It’s time to pull out of Afghanistan
CNN Opinion by Jason Chaffetz
At the conclusion of the decade-long manhunt for the world’s most notorious terrorist, U.S. military forces are receiving well-deserved credit for a mission accomplished. The elimination of Osama bin Laden was made possible by a strong intelligence operation and well-trained special forces units under the Joint Special Operations Command.
Times change
TRIBLIVE by George Will
Osama bin Laden’s death was announced by the president on May 1, a date that once had worldwide significance on the revolutionary calendar of communism, which was America’s absorbing national security preoccupation prior to Islamic terrorism. Times change.
The President Has an Opportunity on Afghanistan. Will He Use It?
Cato@Liberty by Justin Logan
There are not going to be many better opportunities to change course in Afghanistan than the one presented by the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. It may be worth highlighting how ripe an opportunity this is:
Time to change course in Afghanistan
Chicago Sun-Times by Steve Huntley
Aman, they say, is known by the company he keeps. I usually keep intellectual company with the likes of the Heritage Foundation, the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, Republican master strategist Karl Rove and other icons of mainstream conservatism. With Tuesday’s column, I found myself going against the tide of conservative opinion in advocating a course change in Afghanistan.
