Should Obama actually change his mind about Afghanistan, our elite journalists -- obsessed as they are with how the game is played -- will almost inevitably characterize this as vacillation and declare it a sign of political weakness. But that really misses the point. Full Story »
Posted by Derek Hawkins - via Real Clear Politics, Patrick Ruffini
Froomkin touches on something deeper than the imending "shift" in Obama's Afghan strategy: this piece says as much, if not more about the president's decision making process. Rather than approach foreign policy with an ideological framework, Froomkin says, Obama seems willing to make substantial changes based on new information. A simple point, but not what we see from a class of pundits coming off eight years covering a predecessor who did things much differently. Very well reasoned and contextualized -- some fresh insights.
I'm with Froomkin. After eight long years with a president who let dogma drive his foreign policy decisions, I'm more than grateful to see shrewd, calculated realism has returned to the White House. (I had similar words about McCain when he vacillated on a couple issues during his campaign.) To be sure, however, such realism has its downsides: Obama's fumbling of health care reform, in my opinion, was the result of *over*-calculation, a kind of paranoia about being unable to please ... More »
The most important thing to keep in mind here is that over the last several months, what’s emerged when it comes to Afghan policy is a sort of consensus of the ... More »
Thoughtful opinion about the challenges facing President Obama in Afghanistan. Dan Froomkin presents fairly and factually some of the options ahead, as well as his own, well-reasoned perspective on what he suggests may be a 'lost cause.' The need for an exit strategy is also clearly articulated, along with helpful context about this important issue.
It is more of an essay than anything. It is the author's thoughts about Afghanistan and what Obama should be thinking about it.
The consensus: That our national interests in Afghanistan are pretty limited and that the harder we try to change things over there, the more resistance we face; that ... More »
Dan Froomkin is persuasive in his main point that it would be a sign of strength not weakness were Obama to change his mind about staying in Afghanistan because of evidence and reassessment of the military strategy.
Though this opinion is persuasive, there's little discussion of what would happen if we did pull out of Afghanistan, especially what it would mean for the Taliban and their grasp for power in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And what it would mean for our relationships with those 2 countries. We're pouring a lot of money into training their military--would that continue if we withdrew troops? If it's a quagmire now, what can we expect if leave? Better or worse?
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