New president to inherit Afghan crisis

‘08 ISSUES:

As a U.S.-led coalition races to develop a new strategy to counter growing Taliban and al Qaeda militancy, the next U.S. president will face a crisis that has left U.S. officials walking a tightrope with both Afghanistan and its nuclear-armed neighbor, Pakistan.

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain advance different strategies for Iraq. But both now agree that Afghanistan must be a top priority for years to come.

After the rapid overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001, the war in Afghanistan began to take a back seat to Iraq. Many U.S. and military intelligence analysts contend that Taliban militancy was given the opportunity to fester as the Bush administration moved resources into Iraq and left Afghanistan to fend largely for itself.

“Losing focus on Afghanistan is certainly a reason why the Taliban and al Qaeda have become stronger,” said a senior military official in Washington who asked not to be named. “The next president, regardless, needs to focus on Afghanistan. They need to be able to convey a common goal to all NATO allies and they need to focus on dismantling al Qaeda beginning with [Osama] bin Laden.”

With violence escalating over the summer in the region and a rising U.S. and NATO death toll, slighting Afghanistan is no longer an option.

“The problem with Afghanistan today is that the momentum is all with the Taliban,” said Bruce Riedel, author of a new book, “The Search for al Qaeda.” “We need to break the momentum the Taliban has developed because we have under-resourced this war for seven years.”

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Mr. Riedel, a veteran CIA authority on South Asia and the Middle East, said it was important to “get some sense of security back in southern Afghanistan” and proposed more U.S. and NATO boots on the ground, more economic aid and better governance.

Improving security is becoming more urgent in an environment of economic deterioration and growing distrust for the administration of President Hamid Karzai.

Mr. Obama has called for withdrawing one or two U.S. combat brigades from Iraq a month beginning in January, and would like to send “at least two brigades” to Afghanistan, said a spokeswoman for the campaign, Wendy Morigi.

The Democratic nominee has been calling for more troops for Afghanistan for more than a year. He has also said that U.S. forces should be willing to enter Pakistan´s tribal regions in hot pursuit of al Qaeda fugitives, with or without approval from the Pakistani government.

Mr. McCain has criticized Mr. Obama for advertising U.S. plans in advance. In their debate Oct. 7, Mr. McCain quoted Theodore Roosevelt, who said, “Talk softly, but carry a big stick.”

Mr. Obama “likes to talk loudly,” Mr. McCain said. “In fact, he said he wants to announce that he’s going to attack Pakistan. Remarkable.”

Mr. Obama responded by saying, “Nobody called for the invasion of Pakistan. … If Pakistan is unable or unwilling to hunt down bin Laden and take him out, then we should.”

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