Tuesday's Wall Street Journal features a very important piece on Afghanistan by Kim and Fred Kagan. The Kagans show how irresponsible it would be for the president to announce the withdrawal of a substantial number of troops in July, as some political advisers in the White House are advocating. They also point out how irresponsible it would be to establish a "bookend" of announcing the planned withdrawal of all the surge troops in 2012. The surge over the last year and a half has created the conditions for success in Afghanistan. The Kagans explain that if we see the fight through in the south and the east for the next two years, a real drawdown will then be possible in 2013, consistent with the NATO goal of transferring security control to the Afghans in 2014.
It would be terrible, indeed shocking, if President Obama undercut all the efforts and sacrifices of the last year, efforts and sacrifices carried out pursuant to his orders, by choosing now to begin to cut and run — especially since the decision to cut and run would be driven entirely by domestic political considerations.
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