An ANA soldier carries a 105 mm round while training on an M119 Howitzer

An ANA soldier carries a 105 mm round while training on an M119 Howitzer Combat camera Afghanistan by Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade

Gen. Allen: It’s Time Obama Commits To Staying in Afghanistan

Former war commander Gen. John Allen says the successful vote in Afghanistan shows why the U.S. can’t abandon the country now. By Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

Now that this weekend’s seeming successful and fairly peaceful presidential vote is over, the Obama administration quickly should make a public vow to keep United States troops beyond the end of the year, a former top U.S. war commander said Sunday.

Ret. Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, who led U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan from July 2011 to February 2013 told Defense One that the vote presidential vote was “a great first step” for Afghanistan’s future, proof that the country deserves the support of the international community when the 12-year war is scheduled to end.

“Very shortly now the U.S. and the international community ought to be unambiguously committing ourselves to a post-2014 presence in this country,” Allen said, calling the vote “an enormous accomplishment by the Afghan people.”

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign a bilateral security agreement that would allow U.S. and NATO forces to stay beyond the planned withdrawal, to help train Afghan soldiers and police and continue counterterrorism operations. All the candidates in Saturday’s election have vowed to sign the agreement, but a runoff could delay that up to several months.

In February, a frustrated President Barack Obama called Karzai to tell him the U.S. would begin planning a full withdrawal. But Allen said the election shows that the Afghan National Security Forces are ready to defeat the Taliban and provide security – with the help of additional outside forces.

“The violence wasn’t low because the Taliban stayed home. The violence was low because the ANSF stood up, upheld their responsibilities, fought like demons to keep the Taliban from interfering in this perhaps critical moment in the modern history of Afghanistan,” Allen said.

Allen said it’s uncertainty – among all sides, the Afghans, the Taliban and the international community – that threatens the future of Afghanistan the most.

(Related: After Afghan Election, Debate Over Post-2014 Troops Continues)

“The Afghan people had a real hunger for an American presence and now is the time that we need to get the [troop] number out, because in the absence of that announcement it creates hedging strategies, it creates uncertainty. And in uncertainty, people, institutions, countries will hedge and we need for people to come out of their hedging strategies and be able to commit themselves. And that will flow directly from a sense of certainty and that sense of certainty will come from an unambiguous U.S. and international commitment to the future of Afghanistan,” he said.

For those questioning the mission in Afghanistan, Allen said too often Americans forget that the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were planned in the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

“There have been few occasions where the U.S. has been engaged in long-term deployments or long-term hostilities overseas that is more directly relatable to a specific event -- which could happen again -- than this conflict,” he said. 

And he points to Pakistan as another key reason to stay.

“Pakistani stability ought to be something that worries us every night before we go to bed because that country has the largest growing nuclear arsenal on the planet but they also have many different extremist influences which are growing in the country,” Allen said. “A stable Afghanistan is a major contributor ultimately to Pakistani stability.”

Allen said the plan for the war all along was to keep a residual force behind, after combat operations ended. “This idea of a post-2014 force wasn’t something we just thought of in the last couple of years, that was always a portion of the campaign,” he said.

“We have paid too great a price to deliver this country to the doorstep of a future that is credible for us to say ‘go home.’ We have paid too much. This isn’t about cutting our losses, this is about locking in the future of this country.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.