Afghanistan, in Today's News 10.01.09

Afghanistan. President Obama is playing with a political time bomb in Afghanistan. His failure to decide on a course of action means the situation in Afghanistan could blow up politically on him at any time.

Obama has three possible decisions in the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan: send in more troops, stand and fight, or get out. Each of these possibilities has grave difficulties for Obama. Obama seems to have no decision that will leave him a winner.

Instead of deciding, Obama has chosen to play for time. He now has yet another policy review going on to gain time for a possible miracle to occur.

It seems that the Obama team is leaning toward not sending more troops to Afghanistan. They even induced Defense Secretary Robert Gates to reverse his position of support to the military leaders who are asking for more support.

This is all well and good for the administration, but it does leave a kind of a gap. Namely what policy replaces sending troops. Apparently no one knows. The Wall Street Journal today quotes a Pentagon spokesmen, "His [Gate's] thinking on this is evolving. I don't think he has come to a final determination on what he believes to be the appropriate course going forward."

In other words, they are completely stuck in the mud and have no idea how to get un-stuck.

Vice President Joe Biden, always known for his brilliant ideas [sarcasm], came up with the proposal to use a 'counterterrror' strategy. Instead of fighting the war, Biden would have the US focus more narrowly on using drones and small teams of Special Operations forces to kill senior al Qaeda and Taliban figures.

If the Biden alternative were to be chosen, the situation in Afghanistan would go to hell in a hand basket in a remarkably short time. Not that the situation isn't already at that stage.

As Obama flits from one top priority to another (health to financial reform to Afghanistan to Iran to plugging Chicago for the olympics) he finds himself always looking to gain time. It won't work. First of all, one of the priorities is going to become a crisis if he waits and waits. Second, he will end up accomplishing nothing with all these pots boiling without resolution. Third, and as a result, the public will begin to sense that the man is not the leader they voted for. Fourth, his employers, the cryptocracy, are going to be very unhappy.