State of the Union & War in Afghan Poliquicks
No one can deny that the job of being president of the United States is a difficult task at best.
States of the Union speeches are often analyzed for the sense of the priorities to come. With unemployment near 10 percent, the president mentioned “jobs” 30 times in his remarks. The war in Afghanistan got mentioned seven times, while Iraq — once the nation’s top national security concern — was mentioned just four times.
With a diminishing war effort in Afghanistan the Administration has been transformed into one focused almost entirely on domestic concerns such as job creation. This is surely needed.
The number of troops in Afghanistan has recently more than tripled to 97,000, and in the address stated that the war strategy had “taken the fight to al-Qaida,” “taken Taliban strongholds,” and left fewer Afghans “under the control of the insurgency.”
Still the Administration will begin to withdraw U.S. troops in July 2011, but there was no indication of the size of the upcoming draw down. Additionally, there was no reference whatsoever to 2014, the date that has emerged in recent months as the target date that Allied forces could turn responsibility for the country over to the Afghans and leave in larger numbers.
A recent poll found that public support for the war had fallen to just 41 %, the lowest level since the war began.
Lawmakers from both parties are beginning to argue that the war isn’t worth its immense human and financial cost. A record 799 Allied troops were killed in Afghanistan last year, including 499 Americans. This year, the U.S. will spend $120 billion on the Afghan war.
Like Vietnam, the war will be won or lost in America – not the battlefield in Afghanistan.