A New Afghanistan Attitude

As we prepare to hear the President’s speech on Afghanistan tomorrow night, we should adopt a new attitude towards the war and try to separate his recommendations from the follies of the last eight years.

During the Bush administration, we were beset by false assurances, cherry picking of intelligence and a general attitude of deception. We should give the new President an opportunity to define a new, more nuanced strategy, and wait patiently for it to work, or possibly, fail.

We should acknowledge that the President has undergone a far more deliberative process than we ever saw during the Bush administration and give him credit for going through the effort, despite Republican efforts to short circuit him and test his patience.

Of course, some details of the speech have already been leaked such as the size of the new force and the need to create benchmarks for the Afghan government to meet. But I would look more closely at how the President ties these items together into a cohesive whole. Does it make sense as an overarching philosophy? Are there sufficient safeguards in case things don’t go as anticipated. Is there a plan B?

I’m looking forward to hearing the results of President Obama’s deliberative process and hope he hits the ball out of the park, for the good of the country and the American soldiers sacrificing so much on behalf of it.