Afghanistan: No Benchmarks Yet

Last week, in revealing the outlines of his new plan for Afghanistan,
President Obama spoke about "benchmarks" that would be applied to
measure progress. The comment inevitably raised parallels to the
benchmarks that were demanded by meny members of Congress, including
Obama, in regard to the 2007-2008 surge of US forces in Iraq. So far,
at least, Obama has released no information about the benchmarks, and
that -- among other things -- is giving rise to concern within the
administration and in Congress that public and congressional support
for Obama's Afghan plan might start heading south.

Yesterday, speaking at the inaugural conference of the the Foreign Policy Initiative, the new advocacy group launched by the neoconservatives -- see "Introducing PNAC 2.0"
by ThinkProgress -- Rep. Jane Harman raised the benchmark (or
"metrics") issue, and she pointedly recounted a conversation that she
had with Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, about the
topic. Her conversation, she said, went like this:

"I said, 'So where are the metrics?'

"He said, 'They exist.'

"I said, 'So when are we going to hear about them?'

"He said, 'Well, we're not sure we're going to make them public.'"

Earlier on Tuesday morning, Leslie Gelb
of the Council on Foreign Relations, ridiculed the administration for
not having set the benchmarks it promised, at a CFR roundtable that I
attended. "President Obama said there would be no blank checks, and he
promised there would be benchmarks," Gelb told me, in an interview.
"But when he released his plan, you couldn't find a single benchmark in
it!" Added Gelb, to the gathering of reporters:

"How the hell do you formulate a policy based on
benchmarks if there are no benchmarks? And how the hell do you have a
policy if there's no way to know if benchmarks are being met?"

Gelb also slammed John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, and Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, for refusing to hold Obama's feet to the fire over the
benchmarks. On Iraq, Gelb pointed out, Kerry and Levin were vociferous
in demanding that President Bush provide specific metrics for the
surge.

Meanwhile, John McCain, speaking at the Foreign Policy Initiative
gathering, expressed concern that public and congressional support for
the war in Afghanistan would weaken.

"There will be an increase in casualties. ... We can and must
succeed, but it's not going to be easy." He urged Obama to consult
closely with Congress to maintain political support or else he will
face a "resurgence of antiwar activity."

Asked, by Robert Kagan, how deep is the support for the Afghan war in Congress, McCain said:

"It's problematic [and it depends] as to what
transpires. I think that, a year from now, we'll be in a tougher fight
than we are today. ... A year from now, we'll be looking at greater
opposition to the war."

One poll, in the Washington Post, reports that
Democrats are far more skeptical of the war in Afghanistan than
Republicans. It showed that Democrats, by a margin of 57-41, said that
the war is "not worth fighting," while Republicans supported the war by
a margin of 77-20.