Command is not leading a college discussion. As long as the president is expecting his troops to fight and die under his command, the president should never undermine their confidence or belief in eventual victory. The president owes it to our troops to act like their commander.
In Iraq, our troops repaid the faith that President Bush kept with them by winning that war, even after many difficult years and a political class back home increasingly eager to retreat.
Now, President Obama is committed to doing more to win in Afghanistan. So I find this outrageous:
Asked by the Times if the United States was winning the war in Afghanistan, which he has called the "central front in the war on terror," Obama simply replied: "No."
"You've seen conditions deteriorate over the last couple of years. The Taliban is bolder than it was. I think in the southern regions of the country, you're seeing them attack in ways that we have not seen previously," he said.
President Obama can speak of challenges. He can speak of needing to do more. But I don't think he should speak of not winning. He could get away with such comments if he had a reputation for standing firm in the face of adversity, but he is too new to have that benefit of the doubt about his will to win.
I still don't think that the statistics of civilian casualties, attacks, or American casualties indicate we are losing the war. The Taliban are not about to march into Kabul and take over the country.
We need to solve the problem of Pakistan if Afghansitan is to be spared a generation of warfare, but that is a far cry from saying we aren't winning.
