After years of neglect, Afghanistan is finally getting the attention it requires. But seven years after President George W. Bush gave a rosy outlook on Afghanistan before abandoning it for Iraq, the cost of both success and failure have risen tremendously as we have solidified a reputation that the Taliban and Al Qaeda propagandists invoke without much effort.
In a few hours, President Obama will announce his strategy for Afghanistan. Undoubtedly, the cacophony of responses will include recycled sound bites from the media, pundits, Congress and others who eager assert their own vision of the past (often selective and revisionist) and the future. But so much of the commentary to date has been shallow and ignorant of the struggle we are engaged in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere that it is not surprising that American public’s support for the mission in Southeast Asia is faltering. This decline is surely to the delight of Al Qaeda and the Taliban who understanding the struggle for minds to affect the will to act: it directs his operations while our failure to “get it” has greatly empowered him.
