Now it’s Petraeus’s turn to lead

I can’t remember the last time I picked up a copy of Rolling Stone, but I urge you all to read the article in which Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of our troops in Afghanistan, and his colleagues gave a candid interview to journalist Michael Hasting.

As admired and respected as he may have been among his troops, it was inappropriate for McChrystal to participate in a magazine interview instead of taking his complains directly to President Obama. His opinions got him in trouble, and last week he resigned and was replaced by Gen. David Petraeus, commander of United States Central Command.

It’s not up to generals to dictate public policy. As justified as the complaints may have been, Obama was right to replace McChrystal with the brilliant Petraeus. However, unless the administration changes its policies, it will be too little too late.

I’ve always had misgivings about the war in Afghanistan. I believe it’s an unwinnable war. Believe it or not, it has now become the longest war in America’s history. When we tie the hands of our commanders and have rules of engagement that make no sense militarily, we are committing a crime against our troops by endangering their lives.

It’s obvious that Anne Patterson, U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, and Richard Holbrooke, special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, should be replaced sooner rather than later. It makes no sense to have American envoys with little to no communication with the Afghan government. They aren’t military strategists and should stay out of the way of our troops.

When you add that to Obama’s ridiculous timeline of withdrawal in July 2011, you only make success more difficult. If we reviewed history, we’d see that it really does repeat itself. In 1842, 16,000 British soldiers and civilians set out to take control of Afghanistan, and only one soldier survived the battle. Later, the Soviet Union spent over a decade fighting in Afghanistan, sending 500,000 ground troops. They, too, were unable to conquer the land.