Word: afghanistan
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President Obama knows that the Afghan war is going badly, but he insists that the specter of an al-Qaeda comeback makes Afghanistan a "war of necessity." So he has ordered some 30,000 new troops to the front, hoping to hold the line enough that Afghan forces can be built up to eventually take over the mission from the U.S. It may sound like a limited goal, after the sweeping visions of democracy promised during the Bush years. But even that relatively modest strategy is based on some very questionable assumptions. (See a slide show...
...Qaeda Threat Requires a Ground War Obama made the threat of al-Qaeda's returning on the back of a Taliban victory the primary rationale for escalating the war in Afghanistan. But as many have pointed out, al-Qaeda doesn't need sanctuaries in order to plot terrorist attacks, and its leadership core is based in the neighboring tribal areas of Pakistan - which means that 100,000 U.S. troops are now being committed to a mission whose goal is to prevent a few hundred men from re-establishing a base of operations...
Germany, whose 4,300 troops make it the third-largest contingent in the alliance, is going to sit on its decision until an international conference on Afghanistan takes place in London this January. Their public and politicians have been preoccupied since September with accusations that a government minister tried to cover up Germany’s role in calling in an air strike that resulted in the deaths of somewhere between 30 and 70 civilians. Paris also seems to be postponing a decision until next month...
...drama between Democrats and Republicans. In this sense, they are merely spectators of American politics and say little that really implicates them. The Financial Times emphasized the political risk that the surge represents for the commander-in-chief with the headline, “Obama gambles his presidency on Afghanistan,” as did Le Monde, both in its news coverage and in an editorial titled...
Europeans have a more nuanced view. Le Monde and Le Figaro—the center right, more pro-business French paper—both seemed skeptical of the claim that winning in Afghanistan is vital to American interests and highlighted the inherent contradictions of a strategy that seeks to placate Democrats and Republicans but pleases neither...