opinion
Bring the Afghanistan troops Home
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A
s he was announcing his
second increase in troops
for
Afghanistan
in
December 2009, President Obama
promised that by July 2011 those
troops would begin coming home.
As relayed by Bob Woodward’s
book, Obama’s Wars, we know the
president was skeptical about the
United States’ war effort in
Afghanistan. In spite of that skep-
ticism, the president’s new plan
for the war extends the longest war
in American history for the fore-
seeable future.
President Obama announced his
first surge of 20,000 troops in
spring 2009. Pushing American
forces well above the 50,000 mark
and reinforcing a counterinsur-
gency strategy, he escalated a war
in a country entering its fourth
decade of continuous conflict.
Thousands of Marines and sol-
diers were rushed in, with the
announcement that they were
there to ensure free and fair
Afghan elections. That summer,
these troops found an insurgency
fueled by resentment of their pres-
ence. Either because of hostility to
foreign occupation or because our
troops simply sided with someone
else’s rival, akin to supporting just
one side in a Hatfield-McCoy
feud, 2009 became the deadliest
year of the war, doubling the
amount of American dead in
2008.
Meanwhile, the fire hydrant-like
stream of dollars, being pumped
into the second most corrupt
nation in the world, seemed to pur-
chase only further grievances
among the population against a
government radiantly kleptocratic.
When President Hamid Karzai
blatantly stole the elections in
August, American officials were
forced to abandon any narrative of
Americans fighting and dying for
democracy in Afghanistan. Then,
in October, National Security
I NtErNatIoNal P olIcY
Matthew Hoh
Advisor Jim Jones announced that
al-Qaeda had fewer than 100
members in Afghanistan.
However, given little political
cover from the left, feeling little
political pressure from the right
and receiving nothing but a choice
of small, medium or large escala-
tion of the war by the Pentagon,
President Obama in December
March to May of this year
increased 41 percent from last
spring’s totals.
Nationwide, a U.S.-led cam-
paign of night raids on homes has
terrorized families, while a mas-
sive nation-building program
funded by U.S. taxpayers has
enriched a corrupt few and disen-
franchised a poor majority. Again,
betraying our own values, we
looked the other way when elec-
tions were stolen for the second
time in as many years. The number
of civilian deaths are on pace to
The fire hydrant-like stream of dollars,
being pumped into the second most
corrupt nation in the world, seemed to
purchase only further grievances
among the population against a
government radiantly kleptocratic
2009 ordered 30,000 more troops
and billions of dollars into what
soon would become America’s
longest war.
Predictably, by doubling down
on a policy that had proved coun-
terproductive, we betrayed our
national values and failed to inflict
damage on al-Qaeda. We also
went from being waist-deep to
chest-deep in quicksand.
This past year surpassed 2009 as
the deadliest year of the conflict,
killing 57 percent more American
service members.
Tragically, but unsurprisingly,
2011 has been even more deadly.
Insurgent attacks from January to
March increased nearly 50 percent
from the same period in 2010,
while American deaths from
surpass the totals from 2010, the
deadliest year of the war for civil-
ians since 2001. The result: Eight
in ten Afghan men now say the
U.S. presence is bad for
Afghanistan.
By the administration’s own
account, al-Qaeda has not existed
in any meaningful capacity in
Afghanistan since we successfully
scattered them in 2001. Over the
last decade, they have evolved into
an increasingly flat or networked
organization(s) of individuals and
small cells around the globe that is
most
successfully
attacked
through good intelligence, interna-
tional law-enforcement coopera-
tion and surgical-strikes, such as
the raid against Osama bin
Laden’s compound in Pakistan.
Our Afghan war policy does not
affect al-Qaeda.
American troops killed or
maimed in Afghanistan and others
who have returned home with
physical and mental injuries,
increasing numbers of whom are
taking their own lives, cannot be
said to have made a worthy sacri-
fice. We must acknowledge to
families that their losses did not
prevent another Sept. 11.
Moreover, our policies have
destabilized the region, most
notably in Pakistan, a nuclear
nation with 170 million people.
Indeed, President Obama was
right to be skeptical.
However, despite growing bipar-
tisan support for an accelerated
drawdown,
on
Wednesday
President Obama announced the
withdrawal of 30,000 troops
through next year. Such a with-
drawal, particularly without a
change in strategy will only bring
us back to where we were in
December 2009. With only mod-
est cuts in troop levels and no real
changes in our strategy, we will
continue to be stuck in Afghan
quicksand for years to come.
The president should go further
— removing the most recent
30,000 surge troops by the end of
2011 and reducing to a total of
fewer than 30,000 troops by the
end of 2012. Combined with sin-
cere
political
efforts
in
Afghanistan and the broader
region, and by maintaining a focus
on al-Qaeda, the United States can
move Afghanistan and the region
toward stability, while freeing
itself from its quicksand.
hoh is a a Senior Fellow at the
Center for international Policy
and the Director of the
afghanistan Study group. he
served with the Marine Corps in
iraq and with State Department
teams in afghanistan and iraq.
My New Neighbor: ‘Don’t You like kids?’
S
o I opened the door to my
apartment building for a
young woman last Sunday. I
said hello to no apparent response
- not unusual here in New York. As
we walked into the elevator she
asked if I had kids. (It was
Fathers’ Day.) When I said no, she
asked, very matter-of-factly,
“Don’t you like kids?” Bam. Right
between the eyes. Now I’m not
saying that all New Yorkers are
like that but I found her directness
refreshing. A member of my staff
likes to say “To be brutally hon-
est….” before pointing out my lat-
est screw-up; but, again, without
malice.
To make the elevator encounter
even more interesting, she was
Black. I can’t even begin to think
through all of the cross-currents
that would be going on had that
happened in Portland. In New
York - no big deal. In fact, so far,
skin color/ethnicity seems to be
less important here than anyplace
I’ve ever lived. I think it’s related
to the fact that racial/ethnic segre-
gation - economic, social, geo-
graphic - is less prominent here;
especially economic. I’m sure
New York is far from perfect, but
Page 4 The Portland Skanner June 29, 2011
N Ew Y ork
Jeff Tryens
I’ve never worked in an office
with four guys sitting within ten
feet of me named Francisco,
Arturo, Jamal, and Alfonzo or seen
a yarmulke-wearing project man-
ager working closely with a col-
league wearing a hajib. The sub-
way, of course, is packed with
something boss is on maternity
leave until July 5 but I’ve jumped
right into projects. Lots to do.
Getting around is a challenge
but I’m getting to know the sub-
way system pretty well. I take the
Q or B to the R - which is right
across the platform - which leaves
me right across from my office.
The biggest challenge has been
figuring out which direction to
walk when getting off at an unfa-
miliar station. The trains must be
200 yards long so exiting at the
... so far, skin color/ethnicity seems to
be less important here than anyplace
I’ve ever lived
people of every imaginable racial
and ethnic background.
My
neighborhood in Brooklyn is prob-
ably 80% Black but I yet to expe-
rience that familiar white-guy-out-
of-his-element feeling.
So far I’m having a blast. Work
is a bit undefined because my 30-
wrong end can mean disorienta-
tion and a long walk. Of course
there’s an app for that and as soon
as I figure out how to turn on my
new Blackberry I’m going to
download it. Okay, so here’s a hint
for getting around Manhattan.
There are three Broadways - East
Broadway, West Broadway and
Broadway. And they’re not that
close to one another, so be careful.
The biggest issue is, no surprise
here, the NOISE. The police/fire/
ambulance all run their sirens con-
stantly when answering a call. The
city must have gotten a special
deal on buses with no mufflers.
And, while the subway isn’t as
noisy as some, it’s oppressive.
For the moment I live right
across from Prospect Park. Called
his “perfect park” by the country’s
greatest park designer, Frederick
Law Olmsted, it’s 3.5 miles
around and has some very beauti-
ful features but I fear Mr. Olmsted
would be disturbed by what I can
only call managed deterioration.
It’s lovely but shabby around the
edges.
Well, that’s all for now. In an
attempt to be a real New Yorker,
I’m going to the Baryshnikov
Theater tonight to a brand new
dance piece. Something Pat could-
n’t drag me to in Portland.
Jeff tryens is a transplanted
Portlander living and working in
new York City