To Win Afghanistan?

In the coming weeks, President Obama must decide whether or not to add an additional 40,000 troups in the fight for Affghanistan as was recommended by the head General, Stanley McChrystal. I read about this dilemma in a thoughtful piece in the New York Times. The question can be reduced to this: Can we win the war? If so, at what cost to us, if not, at what threat to us?

And, frankly, the problem just seems a little too big for me. In fact, it seems a little to big for anyone. In this sense, I take a bit of comfort in knowing that any final judgment will be coupled, inevitably, with some degree of uncertainty.

Can we win the war? Can the Taliban and Al Qaeda be kept at bay? It has also been suggested that the better defence of America will be in its own security. This is sort of a tidy-our-own-house-first mentality, as in, “we can’t clean our neighbors dirt, but we can sure as hell keep it off of our lawn.” But here we risk that, were we to abandon Afghanistan, it could become a burrow of threat, blossomings something less like democracy, and a lot more like, well, pick your favorite insect image.

And then if we can’t win? Well, then, there’s no sense in in spending more money or risking more lives.

But then the real question comes back to, how much do we know? I, for example, know very little. I’m hoping to know more (as much as one can know from their couch).