I'm pleased that the Obama administration is looking ahead to 2024 in Afghanistan:
America and Afghanistan are close to signing a strategic pact which would allow thousands of United States troops to remain in the country until at least 2024, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
The agreement would allow not only military trainers to stay to build up the Afghan army and police, but also American special forces soldiers and air power to remain.
Like I've said before, in his actions President Obama has been far better on war issues than I feared he would be. Making it clear early that we will stay for the long haul makes it less likely that our enemies will think they can endure hardships in the short term and still emerge on top when we aren't paying attention any more.
Perhaps the lesson of negotiating our presence in Iraq has hit home on Afghanistan, although even here we see progress:
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Iraq’s government has agreed to extend the U.S. military presence in the country beyond 2011 — but Iraq quickly rejected the claim.
The statements are not incompatible. Surely, the Iraqis have agreed to an extension although the form is not yet hammered out.
Perhaps the form of the Afghan commitment will apply to Iraq: trainers, special forces, and air power. Air power could in large measure be put into Iraqi skies from Turkey and neighboring Arab states. I hope trainers in Afghanistan means combat units dedicated to training (so they can fight, too) as part of the pattern for Iraq (3 battalion task forces with equipment for full brigades kept in Iraq, too, so that troops can be quickly flown in to put three full combat brigades in the field in a crisis). Special forces are crucial to helping Iraq fight Iranian influence (not just that living piece of murdering garbage Moqtada al-Sadr), the remnant al Qaeda, and any Baathists still hoping to restore their glory days.
I'm deeply comforted by the apparent realization that 90% of success is just being there.
Oh, and I find it interesting that the figure mentioned for Afghanistan is 25,000--the same figure I want for Iraq (although my hope is that we can make up the force level shortfall from Turkey-, Kuwait-, and fleet-based armed forces).
