On the war in Afghanistan

2. November 2009 by Raleigh Miller.

I don’t quite know what to make of the Afghanistan war.  From a strictly strategical perspective, I’m comfortable having no idea what to do about it; I don’t get into war, strategy, etc.  I don’t have much to recommend in the way of how to win, whether we should win, etc.

But politically speaking, this all feels quite surreal to me. Obama, and nearly every other moderate liberal candidate, emphasized getting out of Iraq and getting into Afghanistan. The conventional wisdom was that we were fighting the wrong war at the wrong time. Obama’s having re-focused resources on Afghanistan is his filling of a series of campaign promises. And yet, not 8 months later, a chorus of a thousand reasonable voices are urging us to get out. And (perhaps just because I dove-leaning anyway) I find the sentiments of that chorus persuasive.

So is there any real difference between Iraq and Afghanistan? Or are they just two bumps on the “always at war” path…are we soon going to be told that our efforts are wasted in Afghanistan and Iran is now what’s in need of our attention? It does seem, at least ostensively, as if the motives that pushed us into Afghanistan were better. The argument for going to Iraq was shifty and perpetually unpersuasive. The oil wealth over which Saddam presided, and the nepotism in the doling out of private contracts gave all sorts of reasons to suspect that we were in Iraq for all the wrong reasons. The argument for the war in Afghanistan has been different, and much more consistent: decimate Al-Queda. The arguments for pulling out now seem to be far more strategical and far less moral (whereas, the arguments for pulling out of Iraq are that it is an unjust and immoral occupation). The problem in Afghanistan is simply that traditional occupation won’t succeed at eradicating the hundreds of nomadic camps that operate largely independently and conduct most of their planning online.

I also wish someone could paint a reasonable picture concerning what we do next if we do pull out of both Afghanistan and Iraq? I’m in favor of both of these moves…and I suspect (with many) that anti-terrorism efforts will be more effective if our resources aren’t being drained by two wars. I do wish I knew what those efforts will be, though.

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