The True Price Of War

Our View: President Obama's Midnight Visit To Dover, Del., To Honor Returning War Dead From Afghanistan Is A Stark Reminder Of The Sacrifices Americans Are Making

The cavernous hangar at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware is an austere and imposing building, and it was altogether fitting that President Barack Obama should have gone there late Wednesday night to view the coffins of 18 soldiers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents who were killed in Afghanistan this week. The president met with bereaved family members and stood at attention to honor the sacrifice of each of those killed in service to their country.

Mr. Obama's appearance at Dover was a poignant reminder to all of us of the sacrifices being made by our troops. But perhaps more importantly, it forced the president to wrestle with the profound consequences of his decisions as he and his advisers try to figure out what to do in Afghanistan, where more Americans are dying than at any time in the eight-year war.

The White House says a decision on whether to send more troops to Afghanistan - as the U.S. and NATO commander there, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, has requested - is still weeks away. Mr. Obama clearly wants to have a reliable partner in whatever government emerges from a second round of balloting there after the results of last summer's election were thrown out for massive fraud.

The administration's public expressions of concern over that fiasco may have prompted Afghan President Hamid Karzai to allow a runoff with his closest competitor, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah. But there's no guarantee that this vote, scheduled for Nov. 7, won't be as flawed as the last, or that Afghans will see the results as legitimate.

Meanwhile, support for the war at home continues to drop. Over the last month, both conservative and liberal commentators have called for a withdrawal of American forces. And the recent resignation of a top foreign service officer in Afghanistan, Matthew Hoh, underscores Mr. Obama's dilemma.

Mr. Hoh, who oversaw reconstruction efforts in Zabul province in southeastern Afghanistan, says the military's presence there has actually strengthened the insurgency and that the U.S. has unwittingly gotten in the middle of a civil war between the country's fiercely independent rural tribes and the modern urban populace represented by the corrupt government in Kabul.