Will Afghanistan Be An Election Issue Next Year?

White House photos 2/27/09 by Pete Souza

Simon Tisdall, The Guardian: Obama U-turn on troops withdrawal makes Afghanistan an election issue

President’s legacy may suffer, Hillary Clinton’s prospects may be damaged and Kabul’s political bosses have lost face too

Barack Obama’s decision to abandon his plan to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan by the time he leaves office in January 2017 will be greeted with concern by friends and derision by foes.

Whichever way the White House tries to spin it, Obama’s move directly contradicts his self-congratulatory, evidently premature announcement in the spring last year that he was “turning the page” on almost 15 years of war in Afghanistan. “This year we will bring America’s longest war to a responsible end,” he declared.

If it sounds like a U-turn, looks like a U-turn, and smells like a U-turn, then it’s probably a U-turn. You can almost hear Donald Trump and other Republican would-be Oval office replacements sharpening verbal barbs for the next TV debate.

WNU Editor: It is already a political issue .... Bush, Graham slam Obama over Afghanistan withdrawal (CNN). But if the Taliban launch a major assault next year ... and it succeeds .... it is a guarantee that this will became a major campaign issue, and definitely a liability for the Democrat Presidential candidate.