Flournoy, the Pentagon's policy chief, led a U.S. delegation that briefed NATO ambassadors Thursday on the Obama administration's review of the Afghan war. Officials released a transcript of her remarks from that meeting.
"No one is talking about leaving Afghanistan, or even standing pat. We are increasing our commitment and we're talking about how best to do that with both civilian and military resources," Flournoy was quoted as telling NATO ambassadors.
The allies are engaged in intense deliberations regarding the future of the 71,000-strong NATO force in Afghanistan, nearly half of which is American. The U.S. military also has about 36,000 soldiers in Afghanistan who serve outside NATO under their own command.
I hope the Obama administration isn't completely focused on how many troops to send to Afghansitan as the major choice they have to make.
As I've long argued, deciding to win is the major decision President Obama must make:
I titled this sparse post, "Thus Conscience Does Make Cowards of Us All?" because I want our president to make the fundamental decision to win the war in Afghanistan. All other questions are less important than that basic decision. And the title hits to the concern I have over President Obama's Dover visit. Will he decide to lose our war in Afghanistan--whether quickly or slowly--because the guilt of ordering our best young people to defend us who then die in our defense, is too overwhelming for him to bear?
The president should always be aware of the price real people pay defending our country. But his reaction to that awareness--that guilt even--must not be to hide our troops and refuse to use them to win. Our president must make sure our troops die for a good reason, die for victory, die despite the best training, leaders, and equipment we can provide them, and die knowing that their sacrifice will not be in vain.
If he does those things, our troops--as well as friends, allies, and neutrals--will know that when we go to war, we go to win. That's what presidents are supposed to do.
Our military can figure out how to win with the resources given if only they know that they can keep going until we win. It may take longer or cost us more casualties, but our military can do it, I believe.
Our troops will fight to win if they know our leadership is committed to winning. And a lot of Americans who don't care much for the president's domestic policies will receive a lot of support from Americans who want America to win our wars--even if President Obama gets the credit for winning.
