Politico.com is reporting that conservative columnist George Will has written a column for publication later this week advocating a ground forces pullout from Afghanistan. His rationale is pretty simple...we'll never be able to accomplish the goal of building a stable Afghan state, so we should stop trying. Pull out ground forces, and do only special ops, drones, and airstrikes, focused on the Pakistani border.
I'm sure there will be a lot to digest from the article when we can read it, but after the jump I'll discuss the political angle.
President Obama is likely to see significant pressure from the right and the Villagers to stay-the-course or even increase our troop presence in Afghanistan, regardless of the likelihood of success. Some of those articles ("How to lose in Afghanistan") are already out there.
But what would happen if the conservative right is split? What would the Villagers and conservative Dems say then? That's what appears to be happening. I'm hardly a George Will fan, but this kind of avocation from a "respected" conservative voice will significantly change the overall debate. In addition to liberal voices, there will be a chorus of "principled" conservatives also advocating a withdrawal from Afghanistan before things get worse. It could also isolate the "stay forever" crowd, like McCain and Lieberman.
This could be a facinating development for the Afghanistan debate heating up this fall.
Link:
http://www.politico.com/...