Obama’s new Afghanistan strategy is doomed to failure, said Mosharraf Zaidi in the Islamabad, Pakistan, News. His plan to send 30,000 more troops, which he announced last week, focuses only on Afghan territory. But it is here in Pakistan that the militants keep their bases. In his speech announcing the surge, Obama pretended this was no problem. He claimed that Pakistani public opinion had turned against extremists and that there was “no doubt” that the United States and Pakistan “share a common enemy.” In reality, Pakistani military and intelligence services don’t believe that for a minute. In their minds, “Pakistan’s enemies are those terrorists that are killing Pakistanis. America’s enemies are those that are killing Americans.” These are different groups, and Pakistan is going after only one of them. Obama apparently thinks he can continue the Bush strategy of trying “to buy, coerce, or cajole Pakistan’s military and political elite into doing things that they consider suicidal.” It won’t work.
Obama doesn’t really care about that, because he has already given up, said retired Pakistani Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg, also in the News. The key feature of Obama’s new plan for Afghanistan isn’t the troop surge, or even the effort to bolster its civil society, but the exit strategy. By insisting that there be an end date to U.S. involvement, Obama essentially acknowledged that “the underlying idea is not to win the war, but to ensure a safe exit.” If Obama really wanted to defeat the Taliban and the other insurgent groups, he would commit far more than the 30,000 troops he promised, and for a longer period of time. Instead, he’s sending a token force. The pretense at a last great push is “meant to cover the shame of defeat, which is difficult for a superpower to admit.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Saudis want action on Syriafeature The Syrian conflict “has tested the Saudi-U.S. pact as never before.”
-
NSA spy scandal divides Europe
feature Spy agencies are supposed to protect their nations’ interests, but with this scandal the NSA has only harmed them.
-
Any takers for a war on Syria?
feature Despite David Cameron’s pleas, the British Parliament says no to Syria, while François Hollande, in a surprise move, provides French backing.
-
Turkey wants our help with Syria
feature Turkey can’t take any more—it’s time to tell our closest ally, the U.S., that “it is past time to do something.”
-
Afghans worry about U.S. pullout
feature Is an internal meltdown all but inevitable after the U.S. withdraws its troops?
-
The world’s biggest free-trade zone
feature An “economic NATO” has been proposed before, but President Obama is the first leader to give it such an unequivocal endorsement.
-
Should Canada keep U.S. deserters?
feature Last week, Canada for the first time deported a female Iraq War resister.
-
How they see us: Calling the Haqqanis terrorists
feature After two years of “spirited debate,” the U.S. has declared the Haqqani network a terrorist group.