Moving away from Afghanistan

When President Barack Obama was announced as the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, both his ardent supporters and his harshest critics, were surprised. The rationale for the prize turned out to be the cooperative, multilateral nature of engagement that Obama has brought to the global stage. But Obama's version of finely-nuanced diplomacy, while lauded by our partners in Europe and Asia with respect to Iran's nuclear ambitions and the Israel-Palestine conflict, has become bogged down in Afghanistan.

According to recent information leaked to The Washington Post, General Stanley McChrystal, Commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, believes that the Afghan situation is worsening and the chances of success are still unknown. Obama and his defense advisers are in an ever-deepening quagmire: should the military devote more troops to mini-surges on the Afghan front? The Commander-in-Chief is leaning toward an increase in troops in the Afghan-Pakistani region and, perhaps, steering toward what has already been dubbed "another Vietnam." The obvious solution is withdrawal, although the reasons for pulling our troops and the complexities of the tactics that must follow are difficult to understand and appreciate.

Over the past eight years of fighting on foreign ground, the president and the Pentagon have repeatedly set deadlines for withdrawal, deadlines that were extended every few months. Meeting these deadlines and exiting Afghanistan will require Obama's finest skills of compromise. Even if eight more years pass by, Afghanistan will not accept the naively idealistic American political beliefs and vision of democracy that our military and government have so fervently tried to impose. Other diplomatic techniques will be needed to combat the terrorism that we are so doggedly trying to eliminate. But first, Obama must recognize the necessity for pulling American troops out of the region. We've tried to do so for eight years and lost more than 900 of our servicemen, alongside the over 4,400 wounded, as of Nov. 9, according to CNN. Another eight years is not worth the terrible cost in human lives and injuries.

Post-withdrawal, Obama and McChrystal can discuss ways to go about conducting an off-the-ground war against Afghanistan-based terrorists. Targeted foreign aid for Afghanistan is an option that holds far more promise than chasing bombers over rugged and unknown terrain. The funding that is currently going into military operations on the ground should be converted into aid for building infrastructure, establishing schools and institutions for higher education and eradicating poverty. The American intelligence that is now being channeled into the creation of elaborate strategies for our soldiers should instead be used to devise efforts to indirectly remove rewards for participating in terrorism - imposing a democratic government on the Afghan people will not lead to terrorists leaving the country.

Putting these post-withdrawal plans into action will require Obama's prized diplomacy. Now, it's up to him to prove himself.