5 Questions for General Petraeus (Updated)

5 Questions for General Petraeus – Jed Babbin, Real Clear Politics.

In a hastily-assembled hearing tomorrow, Gen. David H. Petraeus will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee as a prelude to his confirmation as the new top commander in Afghanistan. Petraeus — author of the military’s manual on counterinsurgency warfare, who commanded the counterinsurgency in Iraq — should, and likely will, receive the unanimous support from the committee. But the hearing should nevertheless be a forum for a penetrating analysis of President Obama’s policy in pursuing the war.

Announcing Gen. McChrystal’s relief and Petraeus’s nomination, the president was emphatic in saying that his action was a change in people, not policy. But the nation-building policy begun by President Bush in Iraq and Afghanistan and continued by Obama, is — by objective criteria — failing. It deserves to be dissected publicly, and Petraeus is the best person to explain how it could work. Here are some of the questions that committee members should pose…

Read the five questions at Real Clear Politics.

Update: For ease of commenting here are the five questions as extracted from Jed Babbin’s fine article.

1. How can the counterinsurgency succeed unless these sources of funding are cut off?

2. What is the competing cause offered by the Afghan Government, and how can it be made more attractive than the Islamic fundamentalism that has existed in Afghanistan for decades or even centuries?

3. What are the major advantages and disadvantages you foresee in Afghanistan and how do they compare with those you faced in Iraq?

4. Can the counterinsurgency succeed without first terminating Iran’s lethal assistance to the Taliban?

5. The next major Afghanistan policy review will occur in December. What measures of success or failure do you believe should be applied in December to decide the way forward?

Please see the original article for commentary and insights that accompany the questions.