Afghanistan Mission Creep Watch - Part 2 Posted by Michael Cohen

Over at Attackerman, Spencer makes a good point about Gen. McCrystal's likely request for more US troops in Afghanistan to train the Afghan security services:

Whatever you think about the war in Afghanistan, it's foolhardy to suggest that the commander of U.S. troops there ought to hold off spelling out what resources he thinks is necessary to accomplish his mission. Hiding the true costs of the mission benefits no one. 

Spencer is absolutely correct and it's a point I made last week. But I wonder if Spencer is being too generous. Consider the context for not only Saturday's Washington Post article describing McCrystal's belief that more troops are needed, but also the McClatchy interview from today in which Gen. McCrystal again says he will tell his superiors in Washington that he needs a bigger force.

Less than two weeks ago we had Jim Jones, the national security advisor telling his military commanders in Afghanistan they're not getting any more troops. And now you have two articles, a big Rajiv Chandrasekaran piece in the Washington Post decrying that lack of Afghan Army support for the Helmand offensive and this priceless quote from an unnamed military official, "Without significant increases . . . 'we will lose the war.'"

Perhaps I'm being conspiratorial, but this doesn't feel coincidental. It's one thing for McCrystal to discretely ask his superiors for more troops, it's quite another to voice that request - before formally made -- to various news outlets. Now maybe this is a case of the Obama Administration using the unimpeachable image of the military to get more troops into Afghanistan or maybe it's the military trying to put pressure on the White House. If it's the latter, does anyone really believe that Obama will be able to deny a request for more troops, particularly if you have folks in Kabul saying not only that it's absolutely necessary, but that America risks losing the war if we don't?

But whether it's one or the other, one thing seems clear: we're going to be sending more troops to Afghanistan in the pursuit of an uncertain and dubious mission.

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The problem is Gary that after 8 years of fighting our government still has to explain its plan. If they had one shouldn’t it be clear by now? This campaign has been a classic example of mission creep and sadly our soldiers are dying whilst our Prime Minister waffles.

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But whether it's one or the other, one thing seems clear: we're going to be sending more troops to Afghanistan in the pursuit of an uncertain and dubious mission.
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