Last night's Vice -Presidential debate made last Friday's Presidential debate's discussion of what is going on and what strategy to implement in Afghanistan look depressingly deep. Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin barely scratched the surface of defining the seriousness of the conflict there, besides just mentioning Al Qaeda, and what strategy to implement, besides just more troops and for Biden more military presence in Pakistan. Here is a transcript and video. And here is a five minute part where each candidate addresses the Afghanistan situation:
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It was obvious that Biden, who is the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, had a better grasp of the issue than Palin, who was most shaky discussing foreign policy. Palin advocated for the General Petraeus, now leader of Central Command which is includes Afghanistan, 'surge’ strategy, but did not go into detail as to how this would be different than in Iraq, as in the type of insurgency, geography, and number of troops. Biden voiced his support for more troops, mainly coming from a lessening of them in Iraq, greater pressure on Pakistan to confront the militants, and greater economic development. Both Biden and Palin mentioned the building of schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and it is in this context where I really hoped each would take the opportunity to explain to the American public just how extraordinary our mission is this strategic area. The Taliban, Al Qaeda, and their supporters have destroyed hundreds of schools, kidnapped and killed tens of teachers and students, and brought a tremendous sense of fear to the millions in the area. And they are only getting stronger. The American people need to know what Anne Applebaum of the Washington Post rightly calls the ‘extraordinary ambition of this enterprise’ in Afghanistan/Pakistan. She is right that no NATO government has explained to its voters how fragile the situation is there and what it will take for success. In short, it will take more than just greater troop numbers and missile attacks in Pakistan's FATA region, it will take a long-term commitment, lives, and amazing perseverance by the American and our Allies public and politicians. As I mentioned before, the Bush Administration is reviewing its Afghan policy and one of their major assessments has to do with proposals for a military campaign plan for Afghanistan for the next 5 to 10 years, which would obviously create a need for long-term troop levels.
I sympathize with these politicians who have to cover these vital and complicated issues in one to two minutes and to deal with moderators who constantly give them too broad a question, but the American and world public need to hear how these future leaders see the situation and what exactly they think should be the next step and why. The situation in Afghanistan/Pakistan is indeed perilous and the US is in very deep and about to go in deeper and as Applebaum concludes, ‘it has only begun to test our stamina.’
