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Obama's Rhetoric in Afghanistan Prolongs US Role in Civil War There
Mar 30, 2010
President Obama showed courage in going to Afghanistan to talk to the
troops, but he's just getting the U.S. in deeper over there.
The rhetoric he used on Sunday was at times distorting, and the
thrust was distressing.
Like Bush, he summoned the 9/11 attack, saying, "We did not choose
this war." And he added: "This is the region where the perpetrators of
that crime, al Qaeda, still base their leadership."
That's clever phrasing, to use the word "region" and not "country,"
since Al Qaeda's forces are no longer in Afghanistan. They're in
Pakistan.
So the U.S. is not waging a war against Al Qaeda anymore-and hasn't
been for years. It's taking sides in a civil war, with the Pashtuns and
the Taliban squaring off against warlords from the north and Karzai's
government.
But that's a harder sell, so Obama didn't make it.
Instead, he told the soldiers: "Your services are absolutely
necessary, absolutely essential to America's safety and security." And
he said, "The United States of America does not quit once it starts on
something. You don't quit, the American armed services does not quit,
we keep at it."
So how does he square that rhetoric with his previous declaration
that we're going to bring troops home from Afghanistan starting next
summer?
It's all but impossible for the U.S. to "defeat and destroy Al Qaeda
and its extremist allies," though that's what Obama said our goal is. It
will be difficult to root out Al Qaeda's leadership in Pakistan, and
even then, Al Qaeda would still flourish n its offshoots around the
world. It will also be very difficult to "defeat and destroy" Al Qaeda's
"extremist allies." Obama seemed to recognize this in another part of
his speech, where he said part of U.S. strategy was to "reverse the
Taliban's momentum"-not vanquish it. Then there are Al Qaeda's other
"extremist allies," ensconced in Pakistan's intelligence agency, the
ISI. And the United States to this date has not put enough pressure on
the Pakistani government to sever this alliance.
Sixteen months from now, the odds are that the civil war in
Afghanistan will look much the way it does today. And because Obama
asserted that the outcome in Afghanistan is "absolutely necessary,
absolutely essential to America's safety and security," then there is no
way the U.S. will be able to leave.
So prepare for a longer war. Obama's rhetoric guarantees it.
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Matt Rothschild
Matt Rothschild is the executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Prior to joining the Democracy Campaign at the start of 2015, Matt worked at The Progressive Magazine for 32 years. For most of those, he was the editor and publisher of The Progressive.
President Obama showed courage in going to Afghanistan to talk to the
troops, but he's just getting the U.S. in deeper over there.
The rhetoric he used on Sunday was at times distorting, and the
thrust was distressing.
Like Bush, he summoned the 9/11 attack, saying, "We did not choose
this war." And he added: "This is the region where the perpetrators of
that crime, al Qaeda, still base their leadership."
That's clever phrasing, to use the word "region" and not "country,"
since Al Qaeda's forces are no longer in Afghanistan. They're in
Pakistan.
So the U.S. is not waging a war against Al Qaeda anymore-and hasn't
been for years. It's taking sides in a civil war, with the Pashtuns and
the Taliban squaring off against warlords from the north and Karzai's
government.
But that's a harder sell, so Obama didn't make it.
Instead, he told the soldiers: "Your services are absolutely
necessary, absolutely essential to America's safety and security." And
he said, "The United States of America does not quit once it starts on
something. You don't quit, the American armed services does not quit,
we keep at it."
So how does he square that rhetoric with his previous declaration
that we're going to bring troops home from Afghanistan starting next
summer?
It's all but impossible for the U.S. to "defeat and destroy Al Qaeda
and its extremist allies," though that's what Obama said our goal is. It
will be difficult to root out Al Qaeda's leadership in Pakistan, and
even then, Al Qaeda would still flourish n its offshoots around the
world. It will also be very difficult to "defeat and destroy" Al Qaeda's
"extremist allies." Obama seemed to recognize this in another part of
his speech, where he said part of U.S. strategy was to "reverse the
Taliban's momentum"-not vanquish it. Then there are Al Qaeda's other
"extremist allies," ensconced in Pakistan's intelligence agency, the
ISI. And the United States to this date has not put enough pressure on
the Pakistani government to sever this alliance.
Sixteen months from now, the odds are that the civil war in
Afghanistan will look much the way it does today. And because Obama
asserted that the outcome in Afghanistan is "absolutely necessary,
absolutely essential to America's safety and security," then there is no
way the U.S. will be able to leave.
So prepare for a longer war. Obama's rhetoric guarantees it.
Matt Rothschild
Matt Rothschild is the executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Prior to joining the Democracy Campaign at the start of 2015, Matt worked at The Progressive Magazine for 32 years. For most of those, he was the editor and publisher of The Progressive.
President Obama showed courage in going to Afghanistan to talk to the
troops, but he's just getting the U.S. in deeper over there.
The rhetoric he used on Sunday was at times distorting, and the
thrust was distressing.
Like Bush, he summoned the 9/11 attack, saying, "We did not choose
this war." And he added: "This is the region where the perpetrators of
that crime, al Qaeda, still base their leadership."
That's clever phrasing, to use the word "region" and not "country,"
since Al Qaeda's forces are no longer in Afghanistan. They're in
Pakistan.
So the U.S. is not waging a war against Al Qaeda anymore-and hasn't
been for years. It's taking sides in a civil war, with the Pashtuns and
the Taliban squaring off against warlords from the north and Karzai's
government.
But that's a harder sell, so Obama didn't make it.
Instead, he told the soldiers: "Your services are absolutely
necessary, absolutely essential to America's safety and security." And
he said, "The United States of America does not quit once it starts on
something. You don't quit, the American armed services does not quit,
we keep at it."
So how does he square that rhetoric with his previous declaration
that we're going to bring troops home from Afghanistan starting next
summer?
It's all but impossible for the U.S. to "defeat and destroy Al Qaeda
and its extremist allies," though that's what Obama said our goal is. It
will be difficult to root out Al Qaeda's leadership in Pakistan, and
even then, Al Qaeda would still flourish n its offshoots around the
world. It will also be very difficult to "defeat and destroy" Al Qaeda's
"extremist allies." Obama seemed to recognize this in another part of
his speech, where he said part of U.S. strategy was to "reverse the
Taliban's momentum"-not vanquish it. Then there are Al Qaeda's other
"extremist allies," ensconced in Pakistan's intelligence agency, the
ISI. And the United States to this date has not put enough pressure on
the Pakistani government to sever this alliance.
Sixteen months from now, the odds are that the civil war in
Afghanistan will look much the way it does today. And because Obama
asserted that the outcome in Afghanistan is "absolutely necessary,
absolutely essential to America's safety and security," then there is no
way the U.S. will be able to leave.
So prepare for a longer war. Obama's rhetoric guarantees it.
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