What’s the big rush? That seems to be Obama’s modus operandi on any foreign-policy challenge. Iran has secret (well, not secret, since the president knew about it) nuclear facilities, but we can talk about it. December’s a good deadline. But really, what’s a “deadline” mean? September’s deadline came and went, right?

Likewise on Afghanistan: there is no time frame for even making a decision, according to Bob Woodward:

President Obama has not set a deadline for determining a new strategy or for committing more troops to the war in Afghanistan, despite an urgent request from his top commander, his national security adviser said Saturday.

In a lengthy telephone interview, retired Gen. James L. Jones outlined Obama’s plans for reassessing the war effort. Jones noted that although the administration has seen some progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it remains uncertain about the outcome of President Hamid Karzai’s contentious bid for reelection. . . .

Obama’s calculations about how to proceed in Afghanistan are occurring as the war is presenting a political challenge at home. Congressional Democrats have become increasingly skeptical about the war; Republicans voice support for McChrystal’s assessment and the likely troop request.

Jones stressed that the president and his advisers will spend the coming weeks focusing on strategy before addressing any troop request.

Military guru Joe Biden says one thing, Gen. Stanley McChrystal says another. Maybe they can get the general to change his mind, suggests National Security Advisor James Jones. Who knows? They’ll talk. And in some bizarre one-upmanship, Jones pronounces:

Jones said the challenges Obama faces in the Afghan war are more “complex” and “bigger than the surge” decision President George W. Bush faced in Iraq three years ago.

In early 2007, Bush ordered the deployment of 30,000 additional troops to Iraq as a “surge” to assist in the counterinsurgency strategy of protecting Iraqis. The surge is now regarded as one of several factors that helped stabilize Iraq and reduce violence there.

“This is bigger than the surge,” Jones said. “This is more complex. There are more moving parts.”

That would be the surge Gen. David Petraeus masterminded and then Sens. Biden and Obama opposed. But it’s small potatoes. The big thinkers are thinking big thoughts in the Obama administration.

It’s an odd mix of arrogance and irresponsibility. What could be more important than a major war? And yet they dither, tell the military to wait, have some more meetings, and roll out Biden to pontificate on how a counterterrorism operation (tried and failed in Iraq) is preferable to a robust counterinsurgency effort (tried and worked in Iraq). One wonders where the adults are. More important, one wonders why this isn’t a prime focus for the commander in chief. After all, since he’s avoiding and deferring any meaningful action on Iran, he should have plenty of time to reach a prompt decision on Afghanistan.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, September 27th, 2009 at 6:42 AM and is filed under Contentions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.