Obama's latest AfPak war strategy
Sunday, 6 December 2009
ONLY two months in office, President Barack Obama unveiled his first strategy on the Afghan war in a speech from the White House on March 27, 2009. He updated his strategy in ten months' time, on December 01, in a speech at the US Military Academy at West Point. In his first strategy statement, Obama said, "…we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future." Afghan war was thus expanded to include Pakistan into the war zone and came to be known by the acronym, AfPak war.
Obama in his December 01 speech has added military muscle to his strategic goal. He has ordered a surge of 30,000 additional soldiers to the Afghan war theatre, raising the figure to about 100,000. He has combined this decision to dramatically increase the number of soldiers with an announcement that the American soldiers will start leaving Afghanistan by 2011. This surge-and-exit policy is the biggest novelty of Obama's new AfPak war strategy. By announcing this exit-deadline, Obama has addressed the worries of the Americans that they have committed themselves to an endless war in Afghanistan and has attempted to revive the original domestic unity behind the war [in 2001, when Bush began the Afghan war, the vote in the Senate was 98 to nothing and the vote in the House was 420 to 1]. At the same time, he has tried to send two messages to Afghanistan: first, the Afghan government must soon take responsibility of their own country; secondly, America will not follow the cut-and-run policy as they did in Vietnam.
However, the biggest thrust of Obama's December 01 strategic policy is not in Afghanistan, but in Pakistan. Obama himself explained the rationale of his new strategy. He said, "I make this decision because I am convinced that our security is at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is the epicentre of violent extremism practised by al Qaeda." He noted, "Al Qaeda has not re-emerged in Afghanistan in the same numbers as before 9/11, but they retain their safe havens along the border." He darkly warned, "…the stakes are even higher within a nuclear-armed Pakistan, because we know that al Qaeda and other extremists seek nuclear weapons, and we have every reason to believe that they would use them."
Though Obama has made Pakistan a theatre of his AfPak war, he is unable to send troops to Pakistan. In his December 01 speech he has re-emphasised the crucial role of Pakistan as America's partner in the fight against the al-Qaeda and Taliban. He has also taken a practical programme to keep Pakistan in line. As a corollary to the surge of troops in Afghanistan to bolster counter-insurgency campaign there, Obama, disclosed the New York Times, has authorised the CIA to expand its operation in Pakistan to ratchet up its counter-terrorism campaign against the al-Qaeda and Taliban.
Obama's December 01 strategic decisions will result in an unprecedented escalation in the Af-Pak war. This is Obama, a war president. Obama has also a moral as well as political stake to live up to the noble image of a Nobel Peace Prize winner. For this, his administration will need to accomplish four big tasks in 18 months' time: first, basically win a counter-insurgency war in Afghanistan; secondly, demolish al-Qaeda and Taliban networks in Pakistan; thirdly, secure Pakistan's nuclear arsenal; last but not least, start withdrawing American troops from the AfPak war zones, signalling end of foreign occupation of Afghanistan. Obama has rightly said in his December 01 speech: "America -- we are passing through a time of great trial."
Obama in his December 01 speech has added military muscle to his strategic goal. He has ordered a surge of 30,000 additional soldiers to the Afghan war theatre, raising the figure to about 100,000. He has combined this decision to dramatically increase the number of soldiers with an announcement that the American soldiers will start leaving Afghanistan by 2011. This surge-and-exit policy is the biggest novelty of Obama's new AfPak war strategy. By announcing this exit-deadline, Obama has addressed the worries of the Americans that they have committed themselves to an endless war in Afghanistan and has attempted to revive the original domestic unity behind the war [in 2001, when Bush began the Afghan war, the vote in the Senate was 98 to nothing and the vote in the House was 420 to 1]. At the same time, he has tried to send two messages to Afghanistan: first, the Afghan government must soon take responsibility of their own country; secondly, America will not follow the cut-and-run policy as they did in Vietnam.
However, the biggest thrust of Obama's December 01 strategic policy is not in Afghanistan, but in Pakistan. Obama himself explained the rationale of his new strategy. He said, "I make this decision because I am convinced that our security is at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is the epicentre of violent extremism practised by al Qaeda." He noted, "Al Qaeda has not re-emerged in Afghanistan in the same numbers as before 9/11, but they retain their safe havens along the border." He darkly warned, "…the stakes are even higher within a nuclear-armed Pakistan, because we know that al Qaeda and other extremists seek nuclear weapons, and we have every reason to believe that they would use them."
Though Obama has made Pakistan a theatre of his AfPak war, he is unable to send troops to Pakistan. In his December 01 speech he has re-emphasised the crucial role of Pakistan as America's partner in the fight against the al-Qaeda and Taliban. He has also taken a practical programme to keep Pakistan in line. As a corollary to the surge of troops in Afghanistan to bolster counter-insurgency campaign there, Obama, disclosed the New York Times, has authorised the CIA to expand its operation in Pakistan to ratchet up its counter-terrorism campaign against the al-Qaeda and Taliban.
Obama's December 01 strategic decisions will result in an unprecedented escalation in the Af-Pak war. This is Obama, a war president. Obama has also a moral as well as political stake to live up to the noble image of a Nobel Peace Prize winner. For this, his administration will need to accomplish four big tasks in 18 months' time: first, basically win a counter-insurgency war in Afghanistan; secondly, demolish al-Qaeda and Taliban networks in Pakistan; thirdly, secure Pakistan's nuclear arsenal; last but not least, start withdrawing American troops from the AfPak war zones, signalling end of foreign occupation of Afghanistan. Obama has rightly said in his December 01 speech: "America -- we are passing through a time of great trial."