Word: afghanistan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...mere fact that Obama has reached a decision on Afghanistan, coupled with the speech's West Point backdrop and the President's oratorical gifts, will probably boost public support for the war effort in the short run. But it is unlikely to convince most Americans that a war that has already lasted more than eight years is worth fighting indefinitely. Even if Obama sets a target date for leaving Afghanistan, he'll still be asking the public to sign on to a major escalation that will see many more Americans killed and wounded, and will cost hundreds of billions more...
...Obama team, which believes that foreign policy should be guided more by interests than by ideals. There are two problems, however, with trying to sell a troop surge solely on national-security grounds. The first is that it is almost impossible to prove that sending more troops to Afghanistan will make Americans safer; after all, al-Qaeda's leadership is in Pakistan, not Afghanistan, and recent history shows that terrorists can plot and strike in Moscow and Madrid and Mumbai regardless of whether or not they have a safe haven in Afghanistan. The second problem with the national-security argument...
...taking office, Obama has consciously avoided the sweeping, Wilsonian rhetoric that became the hallmark of George W. Bush's foreign policy after Sept. 11. Unlike Bush, Obama almost never talks about the goals of securing freedom for Afghans or building democratic institutions or liberating women. When it comes to Afghanistan, the liberal President has abandoned the language of liberalism...
...Downplaying the moral component of the American project in Afghanistan may be smart if Obama's goal is to show he's not Bush. But it won't ultimately help win more support for his strategy - and it will ensure that his speech scores with pundits but not with the American people. The most memorable and effective wartime presidential speeches have blended hardheaded statements of resolve with appeals to higher purpose. At Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln vowed that the Union would complete "the great task remaining before us" yet made it clear that the goal was not just to defeat...
...Afghanistan is not nearly as vital to America's global interests as World War II was - and the Taliban's tyranny pales in comparison to that of the Third Reich. But while it's too simplistic to focus solely on the moral imperatives of the Afghan campaign, it would be just as shortsighted for Obama to ignore them altogether. History shows that Americans are far more willing to support a war that they believe is worthy of their ideals. If Obama hopes to rally the American people behind his strategy, his speech needs to convince them that...