Perpetual War

This is the most encouraging news I've seen about our plans for the war in Afghanistan in some time. Obama has rejected all the options put forward by his generals and insisted that they be revised to contain an exit strategy.

This is important not because we should leave soon, but because if the Afghan government is under the impression we will be there indefinitely, it has no incentive to try to clean up its act. We already know that Karzai is corrupt and he doesn't seem to care about doing anything about it, but he might be more apt to if he thought he might be left to the mercy of the Taliban at some point.

Beyond that, having an open-ended occupation of Afghanistan is not in the national security and financial interests of the United States. The "safe haven" argument is a non-starter and doesn't hold up to even the slightest scrutiny. Pretty much any country in the world could serve as a location to hatch terrorist plots, including our own. Major Hasan did not need a safe-haven to plot his rampage at Ft. Hood. He just needed a gun. Continuing to occupy Afghanistan will not ensure that no terrorist attacks happen in the United States, and neither will leaving Afghanistan. That problem is going to be with us as long as we are seen as the premier superpower and thus the shiniest target.

However, there are geopolitical issues to consider other than terrorism which make the situation infinitely more complicated, namely Pakistan and its nuclear weapons. The threat of those weapons falling into the wrong hands is very real since last Spring the Taliban got very close to the capital of Islamabad.

I would speculate that these broader issues and implications are the main reasons why Obama will still give Gen. McChrystal most of what he wants. Dovish as I might seem, I'm not necessarily against that, but we should face the fact that we are going to have to leave at some point, or else nine years will turn into eighteen years.