Afghanistan. Does President Obama remeber that country?

Written by Michael Vass

During the Presidential campaign of 2008, President Obama made statements of no uncertianty about Afghanistan. He stated clearly that Iraq was the wrong place for American troops to be fighting. He stated that Osama Bin Laden was in Afghanistan, and he was going to make sure that was where our troops would be if he was elected. He stated that only he had the right plan to fight the war in Afghanistan. And he said that once he was elected, and had Generals in place that he believed in, he would get Osama Bin Laden once and for all.

Fast Forward 1 year.

President Obama was elected. He placed Generals in charge that he wanted. He moved the frontlines from Iraq to Afghanistan (mostly). And then he forgot about the war. Well maybe that last statement is a bit unfair. But considering the facts it's easy to see how I came to it.

President Obama has spent over 60 days making a decision about additional troops in Afghanistan. He has gone some 100 days without speaking to his handpicked General McChrystal more than twice. In the meantime American troops have come under more fire, resulting in additional deaths.

The facts are that President Obama said he had a plan. He implemented that plan early in his Administration. He promised (among 514 other things) that he would listen to the advice of his commanders in the field - since he has no experience in the military on any level.

The facts also are that he has not been actively inviolved in the war effort. That he is avoiding giving an answer to General McChrystal. That he has sought every excuse possible to delay any answer at all.

President Obama went so far as to go to Denmark, to pitch the Olympics in Chicago, rather than speak to his Generals or make a decision. He spent time basking in a Nobel Peace Prize. He skipped through New Orleans to go to one of 26 fundraisers in San Francisco. He's played a ton of golf. He went on a dinner date with his wife in NYC (costing some $125,000 - now that's a date to impress). He has promoted Governors in NJ and Virginia (to questionable success) in their re-election campaigns. All of this while Afghanistan does not wait for his response.

The President has claimed that he needed to wait for questions about the Afghan elections to be clared up. That was weeks after he was first asked to increase troops to protect the troops already in Afghanistan, and after a single meeting with General McChrystal after 45 days. The President stated that he needed to know that Afghanistan would be stable.

Afghanistan has not been stable since at least 1980 as I can recall. The Government there is corrupt and weak. It has been, and continues to be. The election did not change that, nor was it going to. Afghanistan is no more stable, safe, or changed than it was 2 decdes ago or 2 decades from now in all likelyhood. But the number of American soldier deaths has changed. it has increased.

And still there is no answer.

Given all of this, I have to wonder. Why did President Obama get a Nobel Peace Prize? Why was Denmark so much more important than our troops? How much money does he need to raise before the Afghan War is more important? Or has he just completely forgotten that we have troops fighting, by his command and plan?