Obama and McCain Clueless on Afghanistan (Updated)

The ignorance and stupidity displayed by both aspiring presidential candidates when it comes to devising a policy for Afghanistan is shocking. Apparently, McCain has adopted the “policy” of Barack. And what might that be. According to MyDD’s Todd Beeton:

I’m not entirely sure why the Obama campaign is not shouting from the highest mountain that John McCain has adopted Obama’s position on the issue but their strategy appears to be, instead, to use this latest McCain flip as an opportunity to continue the “confused” meme that they have introduced into the ether, for not only did McCain flip but his multiple strained explanations and clarifications that followed it made him look like quite the fool.

First the Obama campaign released a campaign memo yesterday that documented McCain’s deep confusion (via Ambinder):

TODAY (MORNING): McCain Called for Sending Three Additional Brigades to Afghanistan and Suggests They Would Come From Iraq. According to a press release issued by the McCain campaign on Tuesday morning, McCain would announce in a speech that he now supports sending at least three additional brigades to Afghanistan: “The status quo in Afghanistan is unacceptable, and from the moment the next President walks into the Oval Office, he will face critical decisions about Afghanistan. … John McCain Supports Sending At Least Three Additional Brigades To Afghanistan. Our commanders on the ground say they need these troops, and thanks to the success of the surge, these forces are becoming available, and our commanders in Afghanistan must get them.” [McCain press release, 7/15/08]

TODAY (AFTERNOON): McCain Clarifies His Proposal On Increasing the Number of Troops, Saying They Could Come From NATO. “Speaking to reporters on his bus after today’s speech, McCain indicated that he’d be open to those additional troops coming from NATO.” [MSNBC, 7/15/08]

TODAY (EVEN LATER IN THE AFTERNOON): McCain Campaign Further Clarifies Proposal, Saying The Troop Increase Would Be Comprised Of Both NATO And US Forces. “McCain spokeswoman Nicolle Wallace said later that U.S. troops will compose some of the additional brigades McCain would send to Afghanistan, but not all of them. `Will we contribute? Of course we will,’ she said.” [Washington Post, 5/15/08]

Both come to this crazy prescription from different angles. For McCranky McCain, the surge of troops has worked in Iraq and we can now afford to start drawing down those forces and shifting them to Afghanistan. McCain is wrong (more about that later) about the fundamental cause of the drop in violence. And, like a typical naval aviator, fails to understand why the ground war in Afghanistan is not making much headway.

Barky Obama is even more off-base. As I discussed in a previous post, Obama insists we must pull our troops out of Iraq because the Army is broken and we cannot sustain the surge. So how does one fix the Army under Barky’s plan? He sends more troops to Afghanistan.

There is a genuine problem with the Army that neither Barack nor McCain are addressing. We have met recruiting goals by enlisting a higher percentage of Category 4 recruits. This means more kids who did not graduate high school, more kids with a history of drug use, and more kids with criminal records. What this means is that our commanders will have more problems developing disciplined, competent troops.

There are only two ways I know to meet recruiting goals without lowering standards–1) significantly increase pay and benefits to attract higher caliber kids or 2) a draft. I do not see either candidate pushing for either alternative.

Apart from the manpower issue is the need to rebuild the the military’s transportation infrastructure–our existing fixed wing airlift capability (e.g., C-17s, C-141s, C-130s, and C-5A) and rotary wing force needs updating and replacement. There also are mountains of rusting, destroyed humvees in dumps in Iraq no longer available–we need new vehicles. Here again, both candidates are silent on rebuilding what Bush has destroyed.

But is the problem in Afghanistan caused by too few troops? Not necessarily. The fundamental problem is there is no single chain of command and strategic focus. NATO, for example, is in Afghanistan but it is pursuing its own mission independent of the U.S. Central Command (that is now General Petraeus). But General Petraeus, unlike the situation in Iraq, does not have full control over the forces operating in country. The CIA, employing tactics learned from the Green Berets (i.e. U.S Army Special Forces), is pursuing targets independent of Central Command and the forces under its control. To make matters worse, the CIA Chief in Kabul pursues a policy independent of the CIA Chief in neighboring Pakistan.

Bottomline? No one is in charge and we are not employing our military, diplomatic, political, and economic resources in a coordinated fashion.

Both McCain and Obama are acting as if Afghanistan and Iraq are interchangeable. They are not. The tribal and ethnic composition of Afghanistan is radically different from Iraq. The largest tribe in the world–the Pushtun–sits astride the Afghan/Pakistan border. Family ties outweigh artificial lines on a map.

Then there is the terrain. The mountains and valleys of Afghanistan limit ground and air assets. We enjoy far less freedom of movement in Afghanistan. All of this means that any troops we deploy to Afghanistan require different training and different tactics.

There is some good news–the Taleban cannot sustain combat operations throughout the year. They are forced to hunker down in the winter. This buys us time to train new forces and to develop new intelligence operations that can support offensive military missions come the spring.

Any strategy must include Pakistan as an integral measure. We used Pakistan, as described in Charlie Wilson’s War, as a terrestrial aircraft carrier during the war with the Soviets in the 1980s to mount offensive ops and resupply the muj. Well, we better damn well ensure we have the Paks with us in cobbling together a policy to quell the Taleban in Afghanistan.

My friends in the intelligence community tell me there is clear, compelling evidence that some members of Pakistan’s intelligence services are directly helping the Taleban. The aid includes weapons, money, and intelligence. We also must get that in check if peace is going to eventually be brought back to Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, neither Obama or McCain seemed to have grasped the nuances and difficulties facing us in putting together a credible, sustainable campaign to defeat the Taleban. Let’s face it–we are being offered a Tweedledum vs Tweedledee vision for Iraq. Neither man has a clear, sensible vision.

It is time that McCain and Obama stop pretending

UPDATE: Great minds think alike. James Meek put up a post yesterday at the NY Daily News. Here’s the link. Just discovered it after I put mine up. Meek gets credit for coming up with the great title first.