We Should Think Twice About A New Afghanistan Surge

An Australian service light armored vehicle drives through Tangi Valley, Afghanistan, March 29. The terrain of Tangi Valley is notoriously rough, but the ASLAV maneuvers across it with ease, said Australian army Lt. McLeod Wood, a troop leader for 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Mentoring Task Force 2, Combined Team Uruzgan.For those who have followed the war in Afghanistan, the Central Command’s latest request for additional troops should look familiar. After all, a similar request was made in 2009, when then-president Barack Obama approved the move of an additional 30,000 troops to the war as part of a “surge.” Obama, who had campaigned against war, found the decision difficult to make. Now, seven years and billions of dollars later, we should be thinking even harder about what a surge could accomplish. Now, more than ever, it may be time to consider each Afghanistan strategy an exit strategy and to pay more attention to the kinds of problems that a surge will never solve.

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