07 October 2009

Washington — President Obama and his national security team are examining a range of strategies for achieving long-term security in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a recent televised interview.

“We’re trying to look at [Afghanistan] from the ground up and make sure that we’re examining every assumption, because what’s important is that at the end of the day the president makes a decision that he believes in, that he thinks is going to further our core objectives of … protecting our country, preventing attacks on us, trying to protect our interests and our allies,” Clinton said in an interview with CNN that aired October 6. (See “Secretaries Clinton, Gates on American Power and Persuasion.”)

“It is difficult enough to deal with the challenges emanating from Afghanistan and Pakistan and the continuing threat from al-Qaida, but to do it when there is so much pressure to make a snap decision, never to ask the hard questions, is really counterproductive,” Clinton said.

Obama is holding a series of deliberations with the U.S. National Security Council, consultations with congressional leadership, and consultations with allied nations and civilian national security experts. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president may take several weeks before reaching a final decision.

On October 6, Obama met for 75 minutes with 30 key leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives in the State Dining Room at the White House to discuss Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to explain what his assessment is designed to achieve. The president indicated he does not intend to reduce U.S. forces greatly in Afghanistan or shift the mission entirely to hunting terrorists and the leaders of al-Qaida. What remains undecided is a substantial troop buildup similar to one that was used effectively in Iraq.

“There is no option that would entail a dramatic reduction in troops,” a senior administration official told the New York Times.

Obama met on October 6 and will meet again on October 9 with his national security team in the White House’s Situation Room, but aides say there will be one final meeting after this week before he decides on what course to take.

The Senate voted 93–7 on October 6 for a 2010 defense spending bill totaling $626 billion, which includes $128 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN STRATEGY

On March 27, Obama set out his objectives in Afghanistan, saying, “We have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future.”

“We are not in Afghanistan to control that country or to dictate its future. We are in Afghanistan to confront a common enemy that threatens the United States, our friends and our allies, and the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Obama said.

In June, Obama named Army General Stanley McChrystal to command U.S. and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan and implement his strategy. The president asked McChrystal to provide an assessment of the current situation and forecast what is needed to accomplish his strategy. Obama is now considering McChrystal’s assessment.

The two met October 2 for a brief conference aboard the presidential aircraft Air Force One after it landed in Copenhagen. McChrystal had been in London for a speech and was directed to meet with the president in Copenhagen. At some point, McChrystal is expected to request additional troops for Afghanistan from the president in an effort to reverse a deteriorating situation.

“I think the key thing is to establish what our objectives are. And can we achieve our objectives? And the answer to that question is, absolutely,” Gates said in the CNN interview with Clinton.

Gates said that, regardless of the president’s decision on immediate troop levels, the United States will remain in Afghanistan.

“We are not leaving Afghanistan. There should be no uncertainty in terms of our determination to remain in Afghanistan and to continue to build a relationship of partnership and trust with the Pakistanis,” Gates said. “That’s a strategic objective of the United States for a number of reasons. … Pakistan is a strategically important country.”

Gates said an inability to put enough troops into Afghanistan by the United States and its allies has contributed to the Taliban gaining momentum in recent months.

“I can’t improve on General McChrystal’s assessment that the situation in Afghanistan is serious and deteriorating,” Gates added. “You have to start where you are, not where you wish you were.”

“The reality is that because of our inability and the inability, frankly, of our allies to put enough troops into Afghanistan, the Taliban [does] have the momentum right now, it seems,” he said.

In late March, the president announced a comprehensive new civil, military and diplomatic strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the targeted goal of disrupting, dismantling and defeating al-Qaida in order to prevent them from launching another major terrorist attack against the United States.

McChrystal, a veteran of U.S. Army special operations forces, was selected by Obama to implement the military component of his new strategy. McChrystal was selected, in part, because of his extensive knowledge and understanding of counterinsurgency operations and conflicts of the type facing U.S. forces and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

What foreign affairs decisions should President Obama consider? Comment on America.gov’s blog Obama Today.