Attackerman: Vietnam is Back

Vietnam Is Back
By: Spencer Ackerman

Since the Helmand River Valley campaign began, I've grown increasingly worried that the mismatch between tactics, strategy and U.S. interests in Afghanistan was growing deeper. Is Michael Cohen right? Is the Obama administration's strategy drifting further into mission creep? After a conference call with Steve Biddle, one of the advisers to the McChrystal strategy review, I'm starting to agree.

McChrystal thinks Afghanistan isn't the point in Afghanistan -- stabilizing Pakistan is -- and so we should devote the next 12 to 24 months to making some imperfect-but-clear-enough improvements in population security in select provinces like Khost, Kandahar and Helmand in order to see that through. What? Biddle even said that the parallel between Afghanistan and Vietnam is a "very important analogy to keep in mind." And he favors staying. Much as I can see the argument that these things are complicated and rhetorical strategy isn't the same thing as actually winning an argument, when you see your own argument becoming, Well, this is kind of Vietnam-esque... that should really occasion a reconsideration of basic premises.

Then I read, via Michael, that commanders in McChrystal's orbit are talking about counterinsurgency pretty much at the expense of counterterrorism.

"Senior government officials said Bin Laden remained a prime target but that they needed to focus on fighting the Taliban."

"We might still be too focused on Bin Laden," the official said. "We should probably reassess our priorities."

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Perhaps I'm misreading what it is the people around McChrystal are saying, but it seems fair to say that the balance of evidence favors an interpretation that Afghanistan strategy is coming unmoored from the actual objectives of the war, and the actual interests at stake, and the White House is being either deluded or outright dishonest about what's happening. "Our goal is to deal with the terrorist elements that are in that country and are making life for Afghans and potentially life for millions throughout the world more dangerous through their activities," Robert Gibbs said from the White House podium today. That is simply not what's coming from McChrystal's circle.

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http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/07/30/vietnam-is-back/