It is crunch time on Afghanistan, so here’s my vote: We need to be thinking about how to reduce our footprint and our goals there in a responsible way, not dig in deeper. We simply do not have the Afghan partners, the NATO allies, the domestic support, the financial resources or the national interests to justify an enlarged and prolonged nation-building effort in Afghanistan.
If Obama is going to use half measures it’s time to get out.
[blockquote]WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is considering a scaled-down version of the war plan advanced by his top Afghanistan commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, U.S. officials say.
Such a narrowed military mission would increase American forces to accomplish the commander’s broadest goals of protecting Afghan cities and key infrastructure. But with fewer troops, the strategy likely would cut back on McChrystal’s ambitious objectives, amounting to what one official described as “McChrystal Light.”[/blockquote]
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091029/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_afghanistan