Obama's Choices in the Afghan War
New York Times , October 30, 2009 | Letter
Re “The Tenacity Question,” by David Brooks (column, Oct. 30):
The issue is not whether President Obama is stubborn enough to stick to an earlier ill-advised judgment that the United States could and should do whatever might be necessary to “win” the war in Afghanistan.
Rather, the question is does he have the courage to take the political risks, the inevitable angry roar of denunciations he will receive if he decides to scale back our military involvement in that tragically ungovernable collection of tribal fiefs (that no power in a long history has ever been able to unify or subdue) and get out as quickly as possible.
The reality is that the mass of Afghans see us as just another foreign army of occupation — taking part in an unending civil war that nobody is going to “win.” Certainly not the United States.
Landrum Bolling
Washington, Oct. 30, 2009
Read the original article here.
Copyright 2009 New York Times Company.
