Foreign Policy on Afpak: McCain weighs in on Meet the Press

March 29, 12:25 PMForeign Policy ExaminerAimee Kligman

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U.S. Senator John McCain, left, attends a session of The Brussels Forum meeting in Brussels, Saturday March 21, 2009. The Brussels Forum is a high-level meeting of the most influential North American and European political, corporate and intellectual leaders to address pressing challenges currently facing both sides of the Atlantic. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

America can sleep easier: Senator John McCain basically approves of our foreign policy going forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He would just change a couple of things.

Mr. McCain was on Meet the Press this morning, weighing in on the financial crisis, and defending the Party of No. Understandably, more time was spent talking about this crisis, which is very acute, and does not enjoy populous support, but rather much populous anger. On a global scale. No doubt, you have read and or heard about massive demonstrations already occurring in Europe in anticipation of the G20 meeting, underscoring the fact that government should do more to help the citizens rather than the crooks who have caused us to plunge into this recession. Brazilian President Lula accused white men with blue eyes for causing the crisis.

And oh, McCain would not support Palin if she ran for president. He did not say so explicitely, but evaded the question so adroitly, - at least Sarah should be glad that McCain has nothing but love and admiration for her family.

So, what would McCain do for the Afpak challenge facing the admnistration?

McCain continued to feel that despite some regional problems, we did the right thing on Iraq. This, despite polling indicating that the Iraq War was the most dismal failure in American history. This was a man who claimed he was prepared to stay in Iraq another 100 years just to win. Mr. McCain has shown little understanding that regional approaches to complex problems are usually more successul than unilateral decisions. In a short two months, the US has received more support and more kudos from the world for its change in foreign policy for involving as many regional players as possible in trying to resolve our problems.

After viewing a short clip of President Obama articulating the specifics of our goals in Afghanistan, McCain evaluated the approach as good, but he'd still modify it 'a little'. How little? More Americans on the ground, - apparently an additional 21,000 Americans is not enough to sustain the vision. He talked about the anticipated increase in casualties, and controlling certain areas in the South which have been now taken over by Taliban. So, we need to send more Americans to an area which is "unwinnable"; the only other official who is hell bent on winning in Afghanistan is General Petraeus. Another military man. Every other head of state, government official (Richard Holbrooke), foreign minister (Bernard Kouchner), area specialist (Arnaud de Borchgrave) have all said the war is not winnable. Not winnable. Therefore the focus is to 'disrupt, dismantle and defeat' al-Qaeda to diminish their potential for attacks on the homeland, and EXIT.

But McCain continued to dream; he wanted the same kind of victory in Afghanistan as we achieved in Iraq. An emerging democracy, with a functioning government, and an ally of the United States. Unfortunately, the reality on the ground that Iraq is still corrupt, still plagued with suicide bombings, still influenced by Iran now more than ever thanks to our intervention, and its people have cried out for the Americans to leave. It is dubious whether this can be called a victory.

He did recognize that in order to stabilize Afghanistan, our job rests with the Pakistani government and its corrupt army and intelligence services. When asked about the notion of negotiating with Taliban's more moderate faction, he opined that it may be a smart thing as "long as people think you're not leaving". He stressed the fact that Pakistan was a nuclear nation more than once, a fact to which everyone working in the area is sensitive.

Looking at some of the other international challenges this morning, McCain felt that the drug violence was an existential threat to Mexico, and he has seen some of that violence spilling into the Unites Sates. He stated that his state capital, Phoenix had become the kidnapping capital of the U.S. 'We need to secure our border with more national troops'. There are not enough boots on the ground.

Every problem in the world has a military solution. More boots on the ground in Afghanistan, and more on the US/Mexican border.

Thank you Mr. McCain for losing this election

For related reading:

Foreign Affairs: the nitty gritty on Afpak

Afpak: Richard Holbrooke outlines US Strategy

Dick Cheney interview: asking the fox to guard the chicken coop

Foreign Policy: The war in Afghanistan is not winnable

Also read David Brook's oped piece in the New York Times titled the 'Winnable War"