McChrystal Lite

McChrystal Lite – Tom Donnelly and Tim Sullivan, Weekly Standard opinion.

In its continuing search for an alternative to General Stanley McChrystal’s comprehensive counterinsurgency approach to the war in Afghanistan, and with President Obama having eliminated the minimalist counterterrorism plan of Vice President Joe Biden, the White House has lately been floating a split-the-difference trial balloon: “McChrystal Lite” or, to give the veep his due, “McChrystal for the cities, Biden for the countryside.”

Last week the New York Times was allowed a sneak-peak of what this half-pregnant approach might look like. It reported that White House advisers are aiming to defend “about 10 top population centers.” A number of press accounts indicate that the number of additional troops would be capped at around 20,000 – half the 40,000 recommended by McChrystal – no more than four brigade-sized units and the needed support. The Times also indicated that McChrystal had briefed the White House on how he would employ any reinforcements: “The first two additional brigades would be sent to the south, including one to Kandahar, while a third would be sent to eastern Afghanistan and a fourth would be used flexibly across the nation.”

To the Washington punditocracy, half a loaf sounds about right; even if they don’t think it’s the right strategy, they think it’s what Obama will do as a matter of domestic politics. But does it make any military sense? …

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