By Matthew Irvine
Best Defense archives bureau chief
Want to know what the president is going to say tonight on Afghanistan? Here's a hint: Check out what he said four years ago.
In one of the first foreign policy speeches of his presidential campaign, delivered at Washington's Woodrow Wilson Center on August 1, 2007, then-candidate Obama outlined his views on Afghanistan and Pakistan and foreshadowed his administration's policy.
"It is time to turn the page," Obama said. "When I am president, we will wage the war that has to be won, with a comprehensive strategy with five elements: getting out of Iraq and on to the right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan; developing the capabilities and partnerships we need to take out the terrorists and the world's most deadly weapons; engaging the world to dry up support for terror and extremism; restoring our values; and securing a more resilient homeland."
On troop numbers: "As president, I would deploy at least two additional brigades to Afghanistan to re-enforce our counter-terrorism operations and support NATO's efforts against the Taliban." Once in office and faced with the realities of a rapidly deteriorating war effort and resurgent Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the president deployed not 10,000 additional troops, but more than 60,000. Nonetheless, the policy goal was there.
On the end-game: "We must not, however, repeat the mistakes of Iraq. The solution in Afghanistan is not just military -- it is political and economic." The appointment of the late Ambassador Richard Holbrooke as special envoy to the region, the accompanying "civilian surge," and massive increase in development funding to the region all are signs of this being a main point of effort in the Obama strategy.
Back in 2007, the candidate showed the same resolve in accomplishing these goals in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Although not perfectly executed, the outlines of the Obama strategy were all there. These lines of argument are evident in the president's policy and likely will be in his speech tonight.
Then-candidate Obama's concluding statement on the war four years ago is a useful reference for today:
Above all, I will send a clear message: we will not repeat the mistake of the past, when we turned our back on Afghanistan following Soviet withdrawal. As 9/11 showed us, the security of Afghanistan and America is shared. And today, that security is most threatened by the al Qaeda and Taliban sanctuary in the tribal regions of northwest Pakistan.
Al Qaeda terrorists train, travel, and maintain global communications in this safe haven. The Taliban pursues a hit and run strategy, striking in Afghanistan, then skulking across the border to safety.
This is the wild frontier of our globalized world. There are wind-swept deserts and cave-dotted mountains. There are tribes that see borders as nothing more than lines on a map, and governments as forces that come and go. There are blood ties deeper than alliances of convenience, and pockets of extremism that follow religion to violence. It's a tough place.
But that is no excuse. There must be no safe-haven for terrorists who threaten America. We cannot fail to act because action is hard.
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