By nearly any measure the war in Afghanistan is not going as well as many had hoped.  To be sure, it is no easy task to eradicate the Taliban in a failing nation without a credible central government.  However, during the campaign President Obama consistently pointed out that Afghanistan is a war of necessity that was mistakenly placed on the back burner while the U.S. waged a war of choice in Iraq.  Now the commander of the war, General McChrystal, has called for more troops.  President Obama is in both a foreign policy and a political pickle.  So far there are no signs that President Obama has what it takes to wage an effective and successful war, but let’s hope this changes.

      The war in Afghanistan is a necessary one and President Obama has said so himself.  In February, during the announcement of an initial troop increase, the President said we must, “stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires.”  The goal is to ensure that the Taliban cannot gain a foothold in Afghanistan thereby preventing the establishment of a safe haven for al Qaeda. 

      Upon taking office President Obama ordered a thorough interagency review of the Afghanistan war.  The aforementioned goal was established and a counterinsurgency strategy was decided upon and implemented.  The U.S. would limit civilian casualties and clear Taliban strongholds, with a focus on assisting the local population.  The “clear, hold and build” strategy.  It took the administration tremendous effort, brainpower and time to devise this strategy.  Now, the President is second-guessing himself, his administration and his generals.

      In a recent 60 minutes interview, Gen. McChrystal, the Afghanistan commander whom President Obama installed, said that he has only spoken with the President once in his 70 days in command.  This is startling.  The United States is engaged in a war that the Commander in Chief has declared necessary to the future safety of the nation, yet he has only seen it fit to speak with the leading commander once.  Gen. McChrystal’s recent assessment delivered to the President (and unsurprisingly leaked to the press) calls for up to an additional 40,000 troops and says that if additional troops are not provided, the mission will, “likely result in failure.”  What will President Obama do?

      President Obama has refused to decide anything immediately, as he reevaluates the Afghanistan strategy that was decided upon after a thorough review.  There are doubts as to whether or not President Obama has what it takes to wage an effective war.  Drawing on recent history lessons, President Bush in consultation with military commanders ordered the surge in Iraq in spite of tremendous pressure to do otherwise.  This ended up being one of the few successful components of the Iraq war.  One would hope that President Obama does what is in the nation’s best interests regardless of political clamoring. 

      There is something to be said for pragmatism, but at some point practical planning can only go so far and a strategy must be executed and fully committed to.  I doubt whether President Obama believes he should go to the American people and say, “this is our goal, we have a strategy to achieve that goal and I will use every resource at our disposal to successfully execute our strategy.”  There is a fine line between determination and stubbornness, as there is between pragmatism and fickleness.  Where does President Obama stand?