Editor’s note: This piece first appeared as the December 2009 cover story of Townhall Magazine. To subscribe, please click here.
Three months after declaring Afghanistan a “war of necessity” and 10 months after launching the then-highly touted “AfPak” strategy, President Obama has come full circle and is now re-evaluating U.S. policy on Afghanistan.
Back on Aug. 17, during a speech given to Veterans of Foreign Wars, Obama laid out the case for a vigorous effort in Afghanistan. He indicated that al Qaeda, and the Taliban who harbor them, are a vital threat to U.S. national security.
“Those who attacked America on 9/11 are plotting to do so again,” Obama said. “If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which al Qaeda would plot to kill more Americans. So this is not only a war worth fighting; this is fundamental to the defense of our people.”
Today, the administration seems unsure whether the Taliban are even a threat, and some advisors are implausibly arguing that even if the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan, the Taliban would not welcome al Qaeda there.
As Obama contemplates the path forward in—or out of—Afghanistan, the harsh reality is that the security and political situation is nearing its nadir. Seven years after being driven from power, Mullah Omar’s Taliban have clearly regained the initiative. But regardless of U.S. and NATO setbacks in Afghanistan, the United States has a vital national security interest there. A reinvigorated Taliban in Afghanistan would threaten neighboring countries in central Asia and lead to the further destabilization of nuclear-armed Pakistan, which is battling its own mounting Taliban insurgency. And the abandonment of the Afghan people to the brutal predations of the Taliban would tarnish the United States’ reputation in the Muslim world and beyond.
SITUATION REPORT: WHERE ARE WE?
Once thought defeated during the early stages of the war, the Taliban have made a dramatic comeback. While the Taliban and their allied extremist groups were previously active only in southern and eastern Afghanistan in areas bordering Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt and Baluchistan province, the terror insurgency has metastasized nationwide.
Once-peaceful provinces in the Afghan North and West, such as Baghlan, Kunduz, Balkh, Herat and Badghis, now contain districts that are fully or partially under Taliban control. In the Afghan West, much of Farah province is considered a virtual no-go zone, while violence has spiked in Nimroz province.