Joe Klein urges Obama to play chicken with Congress over the war in Afghanistan.
If President Obama is too weak to preserve our civilian-military order, then Congress is obligated to enforce its constitutional authority over the power of war.
Pakistan's national security policy of supporting terrorist groups and militias as proxies against India, known as "strategic depth," is accelerating out of control, and they are either deliberately or inadvertently engineering a globalized religious war, a Clash of Civilizations. If pressure on congress is not increased, if the US remains on the slow, ambiguous timetable it is on now, it will be caught right in the middle of this clash.
The real endgame Karzai is working toward is that of a nominal, Pashtun-nationalist government in Kabul overlaying a Taliban-dominated countryside. Together they function not only as a crime family capable of exploiting Afghanistan's resources but also as a highly effective proxy for Pakistan's interminable battle against Indian influence.
Senate Republicans criticized President Obama's decision to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in July 2011, claiming it sends the wrong message to our allies. But is this really accurate?