Af-Pak

There are three articles in today's New York Times on Afgahnistan and Pakistan. On the front page is an account of how Obama came to his decision. Then there are two in the Week in Review section by Sabrina Tavernise and Scott Shane. Trying to understand how people in these countries think is crucial to our dealing with the region. Southern Afganistan, western Pakistan and eastern Iran are the home of the Pashtun tribe, the originators of the Taliban. One must also understand that Pakistan's biggest long-time enemy is India, who supported the northern forces (Turkmen, Uzbeks, etc.) in the civil war in Afghanistan against the Pashtun Taliban. Pakistan has historically supported the Taliban in Afghanistan, partly as a counter to India's influence. But now Pakistanis are actually feeling the effects of terrorism in their own homes. As with Saudis (and Americans), terrorism is far more acceptable when it happens to somebody else. These are ccomplex and interesting issues. The bottom line is that we want the Afghan central government to succeed and the Taliban to fail, for several reasons, not the least of which is to halt the movement of Islamic extremism whose goal is to take over the Middle East.

For me, this is one more example of Obama's competency. To the dithering charges, I say that GW should have dithered or thought more and not listened to Cheney so much. As to those on the left who say things like "we wanted change and we got more of the same," I say to you who was naive enough to think that electing a new president would change Congress? Domestic policy has to be pursued through Congress, which the Constitution gave the ultimate power to spend. Of course, over the last 50 years the executive branch has increased its power to conduct foreign policy without explicit funding approval by Congress, which is why Obama can be more effective here.

For more on goings on in Afghanistan and Pakistan, check out Steve Coll's (the author of the excellent Ghost Wars) column at the New Yorker magazine and the Af-Pak channel at www.foreignpolicy.com/afpak.