A Bad Year for Obama

2009 ended bloodily for U.S. President Barack Obama and his allies in Afghanistan: A suicide bomber successfully blew himself up inside a foreign military base, leading to the death of seven American CIA agents and others being injured, some seriously. On the same day, four Canadian soldiers and one journalist were killed in a separate incident.

The CIA confirmed that its agents were among those killed and injured. The Taliban released a statement saying that one of its “martyrs” waged the operation — the most audacious of its type since the occupation of Afghanistan began in 2001. The Taliban succeeded in penetrating U.S. forces, as it did previously against allied Afghan forces, and the breaches occurred as the latter set out to conduct two operations. This development will cause worry, particularly for the U.S. administration, which believed in its ability to take control of circumstances by increasing troop numbers and intensifying training and recruitment for the Afghan army.

Figures show a significant increase in the number of attacks targeting foreign forces in Afghanistan, particularly in the past year. The number of multinational victims has exceeded 1,000.

The dispatch of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan will not contribute to changing the situation on the ground. If a degree of positive change does occur, it will be utterly insignificant and for a limited period only. This is because the Taliban is not a regular force based in known locations. Rather, it is a group of various clans that has a great capacity to move and avoid direct confrontation with NATO allied forces, which are far more numerous, better trained and better armed.

President Obama hesitated greatly in sending additional troops because he’s well aware that it will not achieve the desired goals. In the end, he was forced to respond to his field commanders positively, so as not to weaken their morale and so that he would not shoulder the blame for defeat if he had not sent the troops.

The new year will not bring anything but bad news for President Obama and his administration, whether from Iraq or Afghanistan, because acts of violence in both countries have started to escalate in a manner that will result in American troop withdrawal amid difficult circumstances. In light of the continuing violence, withdrawal will mean firstly, the admission of defeat and secondly, the abandonment of both countries’ peoples to the militants.

Paradoxically, President Obama hopes to hear good news in order to improve the Democratic Party’s standing in front of its Republican opponents, especially before midterm Congressional elections in November. But wishes are one thing and reality is something else as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq cannot be won. The same can be said for the “War on Terror” and against Al-Qaeda in particular.