As I have been working through my personal beliefs about the war in Afghanistan, it has reminded me of something Josh Muravchik said in the mid-1990s during the debate over the genocide in Bosnia. When someone asked about what the US exit strategy might be if the US got involved militarily, Josh essentially said, "When we send troops into war, the other guys should be the ones looking for the exits! I'm not interested in exit strategies, I'm interested in success strategies." (Hope I did justice to Josh's quote...)
I think that's a great philosophy. We need clear goals and a sensible plan for achieving them. We leave when our goals have been achieved - not when an artificial deadline was passed. I understand the rationale behind having deadlines, but they usually seem to be a counterproductive substitute for clear, achievable and observable goals and the will to achieve them.
Unless President Obama can provide those goals - and the ones we have right now do not meet those standards - we should not be wasting lives or money there.
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