Rove Says Obama Needs to Act Soon on Afghanistan
Karl Rove, the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, questions President Obama's handling of Afghanistan.
The Bush administration's strategic review was not released nor were its recommendations implemented by Obama's transition team. Instead, the review was handed over to the incoming president. Mr. Obama announced a "comprehensive new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan" on March 27.
Mr. Obama supported his new Afghan strategy by dispatching 21,000 additional troops. In June 2009, he named a new commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
On Aug. 30, Gen. McChrystal warned in an assessment sent to the Pentagon that the war could be lost unless the U.S. sent more combat troops to the country. Mr. Obama did little about the general's assessment until it was leaked to the public.
The Obama administratiaon has made winning the war harder by mismanaging the U.S.'s relationship with the Afghan government.
Mr. Obama refused to take a call from Afghan President Hamid Karzai after his recent disputed election, as a confidante to Mr. Karzai told Mr. Rove.
The Afghan president was recently dismayed when political strategist James Carville, who has close ties to both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, became an adviser to Ashraf Ghani, who ran against Mr. Karzai.
Mr. Karzai took that as a sign that Mr. Obama was encouraging opposition to him. Mr. Karzai has now conceded that he didn't win his recent election and has agreed to a run-off.
Mr. Rove says that there is now politics in the Obama's war deliberations as the president's senior political adviser, David Axelrod, apparently attends war cabinet meetings. Mr. Rove never attended war cabinet meetings.
Mr. Obama's aides could be worried that by sending more troops to Afghanistan the White House will draw the fury of the left and lose support for its domestic agenda.
That fear is dangerous and unnecessary says Mr. Rove. The president can retain liberal support for liberal domestic initiatives regardless of the war. He can sustain support for the war by assembling a coalition of Democrats who want to win in Afghanistan, Democrats who would reluctantly follow their president and most Republicans.
It's vital that the president build this coalition because without decisive American leadership, international support for confronting terrorism will soon dissipate. The unraveling of Afghanistan and nuclear-armed Pakistan might not be far behind.
