As we speak Obama is considering troop reinforcements to Afghanistan of approximately 40,000 raising the U.S. commitment to 100,000 strong. If U.S. Gen. If Stanley McChrystal’s urge is met without having thought through the political solution, operational strategy will be devoured by operational needs. Throughout history we have seen the corruption of strategy when military requests have escalated wars and caused missions to creep away from what they originally were intended to accomplish.
In Afghanistan this has already happened at least once when the original objectives to deny al-Qaida safe havens and to topple the Taliban regime were superseded by the very humanitarian notion of democracy and nation building. Western countries always confuse the art of war with the very problematic attempts to do good. The latter objectives are very difficult in any region that hasn’t seen the light and especially troublesome in Afghanistan, since there is no viable political alternative to the Taliban cause. Karzai has no legacy. Afghanistan is a deep mess. One wonders if the upcoming election will bring a new opening. In any case this is probably what Obama is considering.
Successfully conducted operations do not comprise the whole of warfare. Without a suitable strategy that takes into account the dynamics and abstractions of politics, military operations will be bereft of their legacy. Obama needs to bring change to the conflict he inherited.
