Obama ups the ante in Afghanistan

With the Afghan insurgency threatening the government of Hamid Karzai, President Obama this week ordered an additional 17,000 troops deployed to Afghanistan this spring and summer, when fighting between NATO troops and the Taliban typically intensifies. “The situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan demands urgent attention and swift action,” Obama said. “The Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan, and al Qaida supports the insurgency and threatens America from its safe haven along the Pakistani border.”

Most of the new troops had been designated for service in Iraq, but Obama has vowed to shift the focus of U.S. military action to Afghanistan. The fresh troops will join 36,000 U.S. soldiers already in Afghanistan, and another 30,000 troops from NATO allies. Gen. David McKiernan, who commands NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, has asked for a total of 30,000 additional troops. A decision on sending more troops is expected after the administration completes a 60-day review of Afghanistan policy.

Sending more troops isn’t enough, said the Los Angeles Times in an editorial. Pakistan’s army continues to coddle the insurgents, who provide a counterweight in Afghanistan to the influences

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of the U.S. and of Pakistan’s nemesis, India. To bring the “nationalistic factions of the Taliban into the political process,” and stifle their insurgency, the U.S. must obtain genuine support from Pakistan.

That won’t be easy if a beefed-up U.S. military drives even more Taliban fighters into Pakistan, said Parag Khanna in ForeignPolicy.com. An influx of Taliban into Pakistan “could massively destabilize that country’s already volatile North-West Frontier Province.” The U.S. may find itself “squeezing a balloon on one end only to inflate it on the other.”

Letting Afghanistan collapse, though, isn’t an option, said TheEconomist.com. American reinforcements can be used to improve security in the provinces surrounding Kabul and to buttress “NATO’s faltering effort in southern Afghanistan.” And more boots on the ground also means that the U.S. will be less reliant on air power, which has caused increased civilian casualties and outrage—never the way to win hearts and minds.