That other war

Generals on the way out of an assignment may feel more free to speak inconvenient truths. Today’s erstwhile commander is General Dan McNeill, outgoing head of Nato forces in Afghanistan. When he took charge of the effort there fifteen months ago, the International Security Assistamce Force had a paltry 33,00 troops. Currently the number stands at 53,000, and McNeill says that’s nowhere near enough:

“This is an under-resourced war and it needs more manoeuvre units, it needs more flying machines, it needs more intelligence, surveillance and recognisance apparatus,” Gen McNeill said.

“I’m not just focused on the US sector, I’m talking about across the country.”

The money graf:

He suggested that if counter-insurgency guidelines were strictly followed, 400,000 troops would be needed in Afghanistan.

Which presidential contender has spoken about the need to pour more resources into that other war? Barack Obama put Afghanistan on his agenda in remarks in the hoary old days of 2006…

Perhaps most importantly, some of these troops could be redeployed to Afghanistan, where our lack of focus and commitment of resources has led to an increasing deterioration of the security situation there. The President’s decision to go to war in Iraq has had disastrous consequences for Afghanistan — we have seen a fierce Taliban offensive, a spike in terrorist attacks, and a narcotrafficking problem spiral out of control. Instead of consolidating the gains made by the Karzai government, we are backsliding towards chaos. By redeploying from Iraq to Afghanistan, we will answer NATO’s call for more troops and provide a much-needed boost to this critical fight against terrorism.

…and subsequently, with an additional emphasis on non-military assistance.

We must not, however, repeat the mistakes of Iraq. The solution in Afghanistan is not just military — it is political and economic. As President, I would increase our non-military aid by $1 billion. These resources should fund projects at the local level to impact ordinary Afghans, including the development of alternative livelihoods for poppy farmers. And we must seek better performance from the Afghan government, and support that performance through tough anti-corruption safeguards on aid, and increased international support to develop the rule of law across the country.

Obama gaffed up last month while discussing Afghanistan, advocating more Arabic translators for a country where, apparently, nobody actually speaks the language. While this delighted ABC News and various rightist bloggers, the kerfluffle obscured Obama’s point on the need for agricultural assistance and an Afghan alternative to growing poppies for opium*:

“We need agricultural specialists in Afghanistan, people who can help them develop other crops than heroin poppies, because the drug trade in Afghanistan is what is driving and financing these terrorist networks. So we need agricultural specialists,” he said.

So what has John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee had to say about the war in Afghanistan? In 2007, he said much that would fall in line with the needs expressed by Gen McNeill - and by Obama - with an emphasis on boosting the local judiciary and law enforcement. Unlike Obama, however, McCain has not suggested any redeployment of forces from Iraq that might help support changes on the ground in Afghanistan.

We can expect to hear more on that other war from both candidates as the primaries recede in the political rear view, and the general election contest begins in earnest.

*In one of history’s little ironies, opium production was all but wiped out in Afghanistan as recently as 2001…by the Taliban.

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