It's hard to not laugh at the comments of former Vice President Dick Cheney on President Obama's handling of Afghanistan. He claims Obama is afraid to make a decision, that he is dithering, that he should quickly follow the request by his general for additional troops. (Here are two reasonable looks at the dilemma facing us in Afghanistan, with one writer arguing there is no substitute for additional troops while the other says more troops are a bad bet.)
Remember, the generals on the ground in Afghanistan didn't just begin asking for extra troops since Obama came into office. For years, they've said loud and clear more troops were needed while Cheney and Bush were in office -- but they never got those resources because they were redirected to Iraq. And let's not forget that at the outset of the Iraq war, one of the Bush administration's top generals said we'd need up to 400,000 troops to secure the peace there. He and others who agreed were ignored, then silenced by the likes of Cheneywho thought the war there would be quick and easy. According to assessments by a host of military analysts, one of the reasons Iraq went bad so early was because of hasty planning and too little foresight, yet Cheney wants Obama to do the same thing in Afghanistan. And let's not ignore another reality:
Last fall under Bush and Cheney, there were 32,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Under the Obama administration, that number is already up to 68,000, and that's before what likely will be thousands more after next month's runoff in Afghanistan, when we might have a legitimate government in place for the Afghans to buy into, which is key to any strategy we decide upon. To recap: Obama has already paid attention to the generals on the ground more than Cheney and Bush have. Cheney ignored the commanders on the ground in Afghanistan for years, yet he demands Obama make a decision on even more troops -- instantly -- based on the thoughts of the commanders on the ground. Obama should gather the facts, think about the short and long-term ramifications, not just for Afghanistan but for the entire region and overall foreign policy aims. As president, he has to weigh all of those things, while the generals on the ground rightly are more focused on how to win the war they see up close and personal every day.
Cheney is angry the Obama administration refuses to follow his lead. The American public should be happy Obama has chosen a different way.
