Members of the Nagarhar Agribusiness Development Team, which includes U.S. troops, and members of the U.S. Agency for International Development meet with the owner of a hydro-electric facility for an inspection in Jalalabad City, Afghanistan, March 18, 2012. The agency's mission supports initiatives to ensure the sustainability of Afghan agricultural productivity. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Greg C. Biondo
The Next War In Afghanistan -- Washington Times editorial
Republicans ignoring the real strategic issue.
American troops will soon leave Afghanistan. What could become a key policy question for the 2012 election is, what will happen after they depart?
A series of new polls show that the public wants to wash its hands of Afghanistan. The trend was well-established even before recent anti-American riots and the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians, allegedly at the hands of Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. When Mr. Obama took office, a majority still believed that the war was worth fighting, but his lackluster performance in prosecuting the “war of necessity” has convinced them otherwise. An ABC News/Washington Post poll from the first week in March shows just 35 percent consider the war worth fighting, and 60 percent do not. A March Pew Research Center poll found similar results, with 35 percent saying the coalition should remain in force until the country is stabilized and 57 percent wanting forces pulled out now. A USA Today/Gallup survey concluded 24 percent wanted forces out by the 2014 deadline, and 50 percent wanted to speed up that timetable.
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My Comment: The key points in this editorial. (1) The majority of Americans want US forces to leave Afghanistan. (2) The approaching civil war will be ugly, probably killing more people in the first year than in the past 10 years of conflict. And (3) if the wrong players persevere and win in Afghanistan .... U.S. forces may be dragged back into Afghanistan.
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