Thomas Friedman's foreign policy
Thomas Friedman has a great column that describes his common sense foreign policy beliefs, all of which argue against Obama's surge in Afghanistan.
My sense is that all of the people I hear speaking in opposition to Obama's plans are making a good case for their point of view, but they're arguing the wrong case. I don't believe sending more troops to Afghanistan is about Afghanistan. It's about Pakistan. But since the President is constrained in what he can say about Pakistan (because what we're doing there upsets Pakistanis on the street, and the Pakistani military is worried about what we might do), we have this whole discussion about the merits of "nation-building" and whatnot in Afghanistan. (Again, I recommend listening to Ted Koppel's "Talk of the Nation" interview regarding this topic.)
I guess this is one good reason that the framers put the executive rather than the legislative branch in charge of foreign policy...
My sense is that all of the people I hear speaking in opposition to Obama's plans are making a good case for their point of view, but they're arguing the wrong case. I don't believe sending more troops to Afghanistan is about Afghanistan. It's about Pakistan. But since the President is constrained in what he can say about Pakistan (because what we're doing there upsets Pakistanis on the street, and the Pakistani military is worried about what we might do), we have this whole discussion about the merits of "nation-building" and whatnot in Afghanistan. (Again, I recommend listening to Ted Koppel's "Talk of the Nation" interview regarding this topic.)
I guess this is one good reason that the framers put the executive rather than the legislative branch in charge of foreign policy...
Labels: Afghanistan, national security, Pakistan, U.S. politics
posted by michael at 12:38 PM
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1 Comments:
You might also listen to Fresh Air's discussion with Peter Bergen, CNN's National security Analyst, who makes a case for his support of Obama's policy in Afghanistan/Pakistan:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121020669
Although I too generally support the policy, I have misgivings since the groups we are fighting occupy the areas on either side of the Afghan/Pak border....but we don't hear that the war occupies both countries. Why not tell us the whole story? (This was Ted Koppel's concern too I think.)
I'm also disturbed by the covert bombing by drones in Pakistan...and how that is detroying popular opinion for the US in Pakistan.. and that is another issue, which I'm sure has been treated on these pages.
Thanks!
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