Democratic Candidates Favor War in Afghanistan

Opposition to the war in Iraq is a central theme in the Democratic campaigns for president. All 3 of the top tier Democrat candidates have expressed their strong opposition to the war. Hillary Clinton voted for the authorization to go to war in Iraq, but only recently changed her stance and voiced harsh criticism for the war and especially the way it is being handled.

Since it is obvious that all of the major Democratic candidates are opposed to the war in Iraq, it might be interesting to take a look at the candidate’s view of the war in Afghanistan. This is the war that is most closely linked in American minds to the attacks of September 11th. The country seemed united and ready to strike back against the Taliban who were harboring terrorists in the country they controlled – Afghanistan.

Looking first at Senator Hillary Clinton. Her issues page on her campaign website does not include Afghanistan as a major policy concern of hers. In fact the word Afghanistan is only mentioned once on her website, and that is not in relation to the war in that country, but to a U.N. plan to a send high level representative to Iraq similar to what the U.N. did in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Kosovo.

Her website goes on to say that “she would devote the resources we need to fight terrorism and will order specialized units to engage in narrow and targeted operations against al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations in the region.” Attempts to contact the campaign directly for more details in time for this article were unsuccessful.

Barack Obama’s main website is vague on the subject of Afghanistan but he does link to a policy speech published that goes into considerably more detail on the subject.

Obama states that he has always been a supporter of the war in Afghanistan, but criticizes the way the war is being fought and the fact that Afghanistan “is more violent than it has been since 2001.” Instead of focusing on this battlefield, the U.S. has been on the “wrong battlefield in Iraq.” He goes on to say that we must move “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.”

Key points to the Obama Afghanistan Policy:

• Commit more troops and resources to Afghanistan
• Ask our “European friends” to do the same
• Increase non-Military aid by $1 billion
• Support for development on new livelihoods to supplant the Poppy growing
• Install performance measurements for the government
• Implement anti-corruption safeguards

John Edwards is the only top tier Democratic candidate that directly addresses the subject on their main website. However, the details that Edwards gives are not as detailed as Barack Obama’s plans.

As president, John Edwards would increase the number of Special Forces committed to operations in Afghanistan, but he is non-specific on the number. He would also work with our Allies and other members of NATO to insure an adequate number of forces are committed “to defeat the Taliban and ensure continuing progress of the democratic government in Afghanistan.”

How the candidates would approach the war in Afghanistan should give voters more of a sense of how the candidates would approach the overall war on terrorism, whether you want to call it that or not.

All 3 candidates appear to support the war effort in Afghanistan, the issue of degree of involvement seems to be the only thing that separates the candidates and this should be explored in more detail at the next Democratic debate.

Barack Obama’s campaign clearly seems to have given the most thought and planning to the subject of Afghanistan, and he offers the most detailed plan for moving forward there. In fact, Obama is in favor of escalating the war in Afghanistan, a type of mini-surge if you will with an additional 6,000 to 10,000 troops.

John Edwards addresses the issue head on but with less detail than Obama. Like Obama, Edwards would commit more forces, albeit Special Forces to the conflict.

Hillary Clinton seems to avoid specifics on the subject all together. Her congressional website does quote her as telling military troops in January of 2007 that she had “expressed our strong support for their mission in Afghanistan.”