Why President Obama's Afghan Strategy Will Fail

Afghan National Army soldiers training on the outskirts of Kabul (epa)
The Afghan National Army (ANA) has a long way to go before it can stamp its authority on Afghanistan's southern provinces, where the Taliban insurgency is strong. Photo from Radio Free Europe.

Left Out: How To Grow The Afghan Army -- Time Magazine

President Barack Obama has tied his decision to order 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to a pledge that they'll start returning home in 2011. But the President's West Point speech Dec. 1 was mute on his plans for the growing Afghan army, which remains the best — some would say only — way to bring home American personnel. His vagueness on the question of increasing the Afghan forces was understandable: the U.S. and its allies have already boosted target troop levels for the Afghan army four times, and the U.S. commander there, General Stanley McChrystal, wants the target number doubled yet again.

Read more ....

Update #1: U.S. troops skeptical of Afghan soldiers' abilities -- Washington Times
Update #2: Are targets too low for Afghan army? -- Hot Air

My Comment: The lynch pin of President Obama's Afghanistan strategy is to grow and train the Afghan military. But as the above three articles clearly reveal .... it is not going to happen in the time frame that they have been given to accomplish such a mission. It is not even going to be close.

So why make the speech and make a commitment to send tens of thousands of troops for one year.

Bottom line .... this is a strategy to appease his base, quiet his critics, to lay the groundwork to depart from Afghanistan by 2011, and to leave a bare bones Afghan military that may hold back the Taliban for a few more years. The Soviets did the same thing in 1989. They spent a year or two cobbling together an Afghan military and police force of almost 300,000 men, and then left declaring victory. Within 5 years .... the Taliban were in control of the country.

President Obama's priority is the U.S., not Afghanistan, and it is here that he wants to spend his political capital and time in office. He has made his agenda very clear on numerous occasions, and Afghanistan is a distraction from where he wishes his real focus was on .... which is the U.S. and his social/political/economic policies for this country.

No surprise .... many outside of the U.S. are now noticing this disconnect.