This will be a short diary.
So President Obama has said that we will begin withdrawal in 2011, but some Cabinet officials (Clinton, Gates) have begun to waffle.
So it seems to me that we have two routes to go. We can either (1) adamantly refuse to support the President and continue anti-war activism, or (2) We can try to create a fixed date for withdrawal through statute via an Act of Congress, either separately or as a rider to a future Defense budget bill, war funding bill, other big war bills.
Both options have differences in strategy and philosophy. With the first option, we can go out and protest against the war, and try to wage battles in Congress when war funding bills come up. The problem with this path is that we could end up with no concrete withdrawal date because of stiff opposition from more conservative factions. With the second option, we have a chance to set a statutory end date for the occupation. It wouldn't be much easier then the first option, but it would be more doable.
I want to ask this because I see tons of activism, but in Congress I see nothing. I know that no way is perfect, but we need to do something. Of course if the Congress sets a firm statutory date of withdrawal in 2011 then it will also legitimize the continued occupation of Americans until the date of withdrawal. That's not something to do, but I have a fear that even though 2011 has been given as a date for a wind down in Afghanistan that our government will continue to kick the date of exit down the road, and my greatest fear (however unlikely) is that a Republican will be elected and we will stay there indefinitely.
So what do we do? Personally I'm all for trying to set a statutory end date for Afghanistan, but to be honest I'm not sure what all of our realistic options are.