Afghanistan: Bush had it right

I must admit that I’m quite conflicted when it comes to the war in Afghanistan. On the one hand, the current situation is untenable, on the other hand I doubt more troops will provide a solution.

Afghanistan is a more difficult problem than Iraq and the prospect of a strong central government, army and police to whom we will hand control is a largely a fiction.

At the end of the day Bush had the Afghanistan strategy right: smaller footprint, mostly counter-terrorism mission, and a long term commitment to stay to prevent Taliban take-over.

Having boxed himself in during the campaign, Obama rode in with his ‘new strategy’ and in March upped the troop level by nearly 100%.

Having stirred the hornet’s nest he has no choice but to double down in November.

Nothing I heard this week gives me confidence that Afghanistan will end well. I we can only roll back time.