Small Wars Journal

America's War

Wed, 08/18/2010 - 1:36pm
An editorial in this morning's Washington Post, "Making the case for success in Afghanistan", lays out the bottom line in regards to where we now stand in prosecuting the war, and in particular a counterinsurgency strategy for that war, in Afghanistan. The editorial focuses (and generally agrees with -- "appropriate message" is The Post's description) General Petraeus' comments this past Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" and in an earlier interview with The Post's Rajiv Chandrasekaran. An American Forces Press Service article on that commentary provide the gist of the General's message concerning patience for the war, the war's focus and strategy, where we stand in regards to progress and what we need to do with that progress, and why our efforts are a long term proposition.

Largely overlooked by many mainstream publications earlier in the week, The Post rightly ends with an important observation: This war is not General Petraeus' war -- it is America's war and it is up to the President to make the case and provide the rationale for that war -- "not once, not twice, but repeatedly".