West Point Speech

President Obama delivered a speech about the war in Afghanistan that was published on December 1st 2009; a direction to deploy 30,000 US troops early in the new year. In his bid for the presidency he was clear that he favored getting American troops out of Afghanistan as soon as possible. This speech was contradictory to that proposed policy. The question therefore is whether the current US policy is oriented towards satisfying Afghan interests or US domestic political opinion?

Although he delivered the speech at West Point, a military academy which will see members of their ranks deployed as a result of this announcement, his speech suggests the interests of American domestic political opinion is to be served, not a noble interest of the Afghan population.

There are numerous aspects of Obama’s speech to support this perspective.

In his opening paragraph he outlines his desire to speak of the nature of the US commitment, the scope and strategy of his administration to bring the war to a successful conclusion. From the outset he declines to speak or frame his comments around the issue of Afghanistan, the problems they face, the successes this far to assist the people of Afghanistan.

Although Afghanistan has had a troubled history with various invaders, it is so lacking in unity it is arguably better defined as a territorial state rather than a nation. Obama speaks of al Qaeda and the years of Soviet occupation having left the country in turmoil. Al Qaeda and the Soviet Union are in fact 2 of America’s greatest enemies and if it weren’t for that fact, the US wouldn’t be very much interested in the state of Afghanistan or its people. To strengthen this fact, he clearly states the reason America fought in the first place as retaliation to the 9/11 attacks on America by al Qaeda.

To calm the people in America (the domestic political opinion) he sugar coats the situation in Afghanistan pointing out that US intervention has lead to a provisional government being established, international security force being established. He justifies the deployment of the 30,000 troops by arguing about the success the US has had in Iraq. In other words he tells the American people, you voted for me because I want to get out of war but we are Americans and we can win this thing. Later in the speech however, he contradicts his enthusiasm for the war in Iraq, noting he voted against it and and that the 8 year involvement involves enormous costs financially and at home politically.

Ironically what follows is the admission that things have been moving backwards in Afghanistan. Assuming there is no imminent threat of a government overthrow, he admits the Taliban is gaining momentum.

Later in the speech he changes directions and argues Afghanistan is the epicenter of a violent extreme and that new attacks are being plotted as he speaks.

He argues the troop deployment is required to protect the security of America and yet provided for troop withdrawal. He almost apologizes to the West Point cadets arguing that he wasn’t presented with a plan to deploy further troops before 2010.

Obama most directly states the troop deployment is for American interest and not to help Afghanistan when he states, “If I did not think that the security of the United States and the safety of the American people were at stake… I would gladly order every single one of our troops home tomorrow!”

The president rightly noted Americans concern over that cost of war and the reality of their own pockets in the recession and argues this is not just an American war, that other countries also have a serious stake in the outcome. To calm these American concerns of the cost he noted that in the future the US will not be giving blank cheques, rather the money goes to those who combat corruption.

He repeatedly outlines the steps that will be pursued to overthrow al Qaeda. The steps are to target insurgency, train security forces, transfer responsibility to Afghans (so the US can get out, in other words).

Obama walks a tight rope on the troop deployment. He knows al Qaeda needs to be stopped, he knows Americans popularly want out of Iraq and Afghanistan and he tries to do both in the speech.

It is a confusing, contradictory speech and if he had delivered speeches like this during his campaign, he may not have been commander in chief today.

However, the speech is designed to suit American domestic political policy, and not for the betterment of Afghanistan.