Asian Conservatives

It breaks my heart that even the foreign press is publishing news about American soldiers losing morale and struggling to understand their mission in Afghanistan. Clearly, the indecision and lack of leadership from the Commander-in-Chief is taking a toll on our troops in the line of fire:

“The many soldiers who come to see us have a sense of futility and anger about being here. They are really in a state of depression and despair and just want to get back to their families,” said Captain Jeff Masengale, of the 10th Mountain Division’s 2-87 Infantry Battalion.

“They feel they are risking their lives for progress that’s hard to discern,” said Captain Sam Rico, of the Division’s 4-25 Field Artillery Battalion. “They are tired, strained, confused and just want to get through.” The chaplains said that they were speaking out because the men could not.

General Stanley McChrystal, commander of allied and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, believes he can win the war against the Taliban and its terrorism support network. He studied President Obama’s strategy for Afghanistan and filed a report to the Pentagon requesting a 30,000-40,000 troop surge:

Upon arriving in June, Gen. McChrystal launched his assessment of the forces required to execute the Obama strategy. His confidential study was completed in August and sent to the Pentagon. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Michael Mullen told Congress that more troops would be needed, and a figure of 30,000-40,000 was bandied about.

The figure has clearly spooked the Administration. Soon after, Gen. McChrystal’s confidential report was leaked to the Washington Post by, well, you’ll have to ask Bob Woodward. The report said that the U.S. urgently needs to reverse a “deteriorating” security situation. Soon the full retreat began in Washington, led by a vocal group within the Administration that wants to scale back the mission. The White House told the Pentagon to hold off asking for troops and Gen. McChrystal not to testify to Congress. Remarkably, President Obama mused on the Sunday talks shows, “Are we doing the right thing?”

The general in the field did his homework, followed his commander’s orders, and made a recommendation. Yet the Commander-in-Chief does nothing to help him or his cause; worse yet, he flew to Copenhagen, Denmark to lobby for more IOC votes for his hometown Chicago to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Wait, he did invite the General onboard Air Force One for a photo-op — “Hey, I do care about our troops!” But we all know what the discussion was like.

Troops are dying in Afghanistan, families are crying at home, and yet the president paid much more attention to what’ll happen in 2016 than what’s happening now.

I beg of you, Mr. President, to follow through on your strategy and earnestly consider Gen. McChrystal’s plan for victory.