The President’s Drawdown: Cracks in the Dam
The President’s decision to withdraw 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan this year shows that the White House and Congress feel the heat from the work of anti-Afghanistan-War movement, but he didn’t go far enough. The bottom line for those of us working to end the war is this: We’ve got to redouble our efforts to get all of the troops home.
The work of organizations like the Afghanistan Study Group, Rethink Afghanistan, and supporters like you all across the country are the only reason any troops will come home from Afghanistan this year. Your activism turned the tide against this war in Congress and convinced most Americans that we should withdraw troops ASAP. With your support, we can drive public and insider opinion against the war until the administration brings our men, women, and tax dollars home.
The president’s plan leaves more than 90 percent of the troops in Afghanistan this year, and leaves tens of thousands of troops from the president’s prior escalations still in place after 2012. That means we’ll spend around $2 billion per week on this war for years. That’s unacceptable. We must pressure Washington, D.C. to start a real withdrawal now that gets all our troops home.
For example, the Afghanistan Study Group‘s proposal calls for “ceasefires, large troop reductions (30,000 this year, 40,000 in 2012), reformation of the Afghan government, and political negotiations within Afghanistan and amongst its neighbors to stabilize Afghanistan and the region.” That’s more than double the pace of the president’s proposed drawdown.
Think of the president’s announcement as the first crack in the dam; the whole disastrous policy hasn’t yet come crashing down, but the strain of fighting public opinion is starting to show.
