Gates: Civilian Casualties Doing ‘Enormous Harm’ in Afghanistan

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS3_3AH_x98&eurl

Obama’s first move on Afghanistan is putting Karzai on notice. Let church bells ring.

Mr. Karzai is now seen as a potential impediment to American goals in Afghanistan, the officials said, because corruption has become rampant in his government, contributing to a flourishing drug trade and the resurgence of the Taliban.

[...] Shortly before taking office as vice president last week, Mr. Biden traveled to Afghanistan in his role as the departing chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He met with Mr. Karzai and warned him that the Obama administration would expect more of him than Mr. Bush did, administration officials said. He told Mr. Karzai that Mr. Obama would be discontinuing the video calls that Mr. Karzai enjoyed with Mr. Bush, said a senior official, who added that Mr. Obama expected Mr. Karzai to do more to crack down on corruption.

After his return from Afghanistan, Mr. Biden, who has had a contentious relationship with Mr. Karzai, described the situation there as “a real mess.”

If you have been following Secretary Gates on Afghanistan you already know that troops alone will not be enough to stabilize that country. After Bush letting it fall apart, it will take all our talents on deck, with the simple truth being we can’t just walk away given what we’re inheriting. Few know Afghanistan better than Gates. He saw first hand what happened during the Reagan administration, when CIA director Casey’s “kill Soviets” strategy was implemented. Gates understands the stark limitations on “success.” He also knows the primary objective is limited:

Mr. Gates added that the United States should focus on limited goals. “My own personal view is that our primary goal is to prevent Afghanistan from being used as a base for terrorists and extremists to attack the United States and our allies, and whatever else we need to do flows from that objective,” he said.

President Obama and his team cannot undo the damage of neglect in Afghanistan after the Bush-Cheney years and shouldn’t try. Committed to keeping failed states from happening where terrorism can gain ground is job one.

The talk is that the policy review on Afghanistan is real on Obama’s part, with the final analysis yet to be made. But again, Obama’s inheriting a country in absolute chaos, so he can’t let it further unwind, with limited expansion of forces meant to “buy time” until an assessment can be made, something that has already been reported.

This will not mollify the people adamantly against more troops in Afghanistan, some of whom are running around with their rhetoric half cocked. Afghanistan isn’t in our strategic interest? Oh, but Pakistan is, though I’d still like to know how we treat them separately. But calling my friends at Vote Vets “war mongers”? Out of line.

On Afghanistan, count me on the side of Gates, for now.

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