By Lawrence J. Korb|October 11, 2009
As the Obama administration considers what to do about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, there are three things it should keep in mind to come up with a more effective policy.
First, many of those who are arguing that the U.S. should send Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal the 40,000 more troops he is requesting are responsible for the situation in Afghanistan deteriorating so much over the past three years. Both of General McChrystal's predecessors, Generals Dan K. McNeill and David D. McKiernan, asked for more troops. These requests were not supported by Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen; Gen. David Petraeus, the current head of the Central Command; or Secretary of Defense Robert F. Gates. In fact, Admiral Mullen told Congress in late 2007 that while we do what we must in Iraq, we only do what we can in Afghanistan.
Ironically, the one flag officer who supported sending more troops to Afghanistan was Adm. William J. Fallon, Mr. Petraeus' predecessor as head of the Central Command, whose entreaties were ignored and who was fired for letting a reporter know that he had serious concerns with the Bush administration's policies in the region.
Similarly, many Republican politicians now urging Mr. Obama to grant General McChrystal's request to send more troops did not speak up when Generals McNeill and McKiernan asked for more troops. Nor did they criticize Admiral Mullen when he refused to give priority to Afghanistan. Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona and the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, actually said we could just muddle through in Afghanistan. Finally, none of these individuals supported Gen. Eric Shinseki when he argued that the Bush administration was not sending enough troops to Iraq, a comment that cost him his job.
Second, at the request of General McKiernan, President Obama has already doubled the number of American troops in Afghanistan from the number deployed to Afghanistan during most of the Bush administration. By the time all the troops that have been ordered to Afghanistan since Mr. Obama's election get there, U.S. troop strength will be 68,000, up from about 32,000 about a year ago, and the number of U.S. combat battalions will have risen from eight in October 2008 to 23. Therefore, it is still quite early to assess the impact of these troops on the conflict.
