What a difference 18 months can make. When President Obama decided to withdraw
10,000 troops from Afghanistan this year and 33,000 troops by next September,
he apparently took the advice of Vice President Joseph Biden and rejected the advice of ISAF Commander --
soon-to-be CIA director -- Gen. David
Petraeus.
In December, 2009, when Obama made the decision to surge
33,000 troops to Afghanistan in the first place, the move was widely seen as a
victory for the military and civilian leaders at the Pentagon, joined by
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
over the lighter footprint advocated by Biden. Biden and Petraeus have
often been seen to be on opposite sides of the debate over how to fight in
Afghanistan, although the vice president has always been supportive of Obama's
policy decisions once they were made.
But when Obama announces his decision in a speech from the
White House tonight, he will cement a shift in power and influence over the
Afghanistan decision making process, away from the general who is in charge of
the war, according
to the New York Times:
Mr. Obama's decision is a victory for Vice
President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has long argued for curtailing the American
military engagement in Afghanistan. But it is a setback for his top commander
in Afghanistan, Gen. David H. Petraeus, who helped write the Army's field book
on counterinsurgency policy, and who is returning to Washington to head the
Central Intelligence Agency.
Two administration officials said General Petraeus
did not endorse the decision, though both Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates,
who is retiring, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reluctantly
accepted it. General Petraeus had recommended limiting initial withdrawals and
leaving in place as many combat forces for as long as possible, to hold on to
fragile gains made in recent combat.
Petraeus will leave Afghanistan to head the CIA in September and Defense
Secretary Robert Gates, who has
often called for a "modest"
reduction of troops, retires next week. Administration officials have been
quick to say that Petraeus presented Obama with a "range of options," but
Obama's decision to withdraw troops faster than what Petraeus and Gates would
prefer is a stark departure from his decision-making process last time around.
Conservative pundits are already seizing on the Times' reporting to criticize Obama's decision. "This is an amazing
decision to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory," wrote
the American Enterprise Institute's Danielle
Pletka. "Those in the field believe that lower numbers will result in
higher U.S. casualties, reduce the chance of success in stabilizing
Afghanistan, and concede territory to the enemy."
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