Once again, the Administration wants to find the soft middle ground at the intersection of Goingbackwardville and Movingforwardville.
This time, it’s Afghanistan. Eight years on, we have not captured the al-Qaeda leaders who attacked us, we do not have a reliable partner on the ground, and we do not have a clear exit strategy.
More troops or less troops? It doesn’t matter. By conflating a handful of fifth-rate terrorists into the greatest threat in history, we’re stuck in a quagmire.
Better intelligence and better development assistance to backward nations is the key to getting this mess under some control. But that’s not sexy, it doesn’t provide jobs to generals, and it doesn’t get you to and through the next election cycle.
Gorilla thinks: “In the war on terror, we may change Administrations, but Osama still rules the roost!”
Tags: Afghanistan, goingbackwardville, movingforwardville, terrorism