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US forced to rethink on Afghanistan
Sydney Morning Herald - September 24, 2009
Peter Baker and Elisabeth Bumiller, Washington – The US President, Barack Obama, is exploring alternatives to a major troop increase in Afghanistan, including a plan advocated by the Vice-President, Joe Biden, to scale back American forces and focus on rooting out al-Qaeda there and in Pakistan, officials said.
The options under review are part of what Administration officials described as a wholesale reconsideration of a strategy the President announced with fanfare just six months ago.
Two new intelligence reports are being conducted to evaluate Afghanistan and Pakistan, one official said.
The reassessment has been prompted by deteriorating conditions on the ground, the still unsettled outcome of the Afghan elections and a dire report by Mr Obama's new commander, General Stanley McChrystal.
In looking at other options, aides said Mr Obama may just be testing assumptions – and assuring liberals in his own party that he is not rushing into a further expansion of the war – before ultimately agreeing to the anticipated troop request from General McChrystal.
But the review suggests the President is having second thoughts about how deeply to engage in an eight-year conflict that is not going well.
Mr Obama is weighing his options even as his allies in Britain are drawing up plans to send additional forces to Afghanistan if he decides to proceed with a stepped-up campaign.
The British military may expand beyond the 9000 troops it has in Afghanistan, said General David Richards, chief of the general staff. Britain has the second-biggest contingent in Afghanistan, behind the US.
The Times of London reported on Tuesday that Britain is considering adding as many as 1000 troops in response to US Army General Stanley McChrystal's assessment that more forces are needed to fight the Taliban.
"It's prudent anticipation of what might be asked of us," General Richards said before a speech at the Centre for a New American Security in Washington. The final number might be more or less than 1000, based on the need, he said.
However, in Germany, which has more than 4000 troops serving in Afghanistan, came a warning from the right-wing Christian Social Union that the nation may not stay the course after the weekend's elections.
Chancellor Angela Merkel could be forced to pull German troops out if she forms another grand coalition with the left, the country's economy minister said on Tuesday. The CSU's Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said that Germany's left had become increasingly radical and would compel Mrs Merkel to change her foreign policy.
Though Mr Obama believes a stable Afghanistan is central to the security of the US, some advisers said he is also wary of becoming trapped in an overseas quagmire.
Mr Obama met in the Situation Room with advisers on September 13, to begin chewing through the options, said officials involved in the debate. They reached no consensus.
Among the alternatives being presented to Mr Obama is Mr Biden's suggestion to revamp the strategy altogether. Instead of increasing troops, officials said Mr Biden has proposed scaling back the overall American military presence. Rather than trying to protect the Afghan population from the Taliban, American forces would concentrate on strikes against al-Qaeda cells, primarily in Pakistan, using special forces, Predator missile attacks and other surgical tactics.
The Americans would accelerate training of Afghan forces and provide support as they take the lead against the Taliban. But the emphasis would shift to Pakistan.
Mr Obama rejected Mr Biden's approach in March, and it is not clear that it has more traction this time. But the fact that is on the table again speaks to the breadth of the Administration's review and the evolving views inside the White House. (Bloomberg; Telegraph, London)
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