Military Power

Obama's response to a call to commit more U.S. troops to Afghanistan will help determine whether wavering European allies boost their own efforts or look for the exit. Western resolve has been tested by mounting casualties in a widening Islamist insurgency and by a flawed election. If he doesn't send more forces, it is very unlikely that the Europeans will. In fact, it makes it more likely that some European forces will be withdrawn. Opinion polls in many European countries, including Britain, France and Germany, show clear majorities in favor of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and the deaths of six Italian soldiers in a Kabul suicide bombing last week prompted Prime Minister Berlusconi to say Italian troops should come home soon while The Netherlands and Canada have already set 2010 and 2011 withdrawal timelines.

People's memories are short, It's been eight years since the September 11 attacks on the U.S., people don't recall the nearly 200 dead on a train in Spain (in 2004) and Afghanistan is too far away for them to feel immediate threats to their own security.

More than 40 countries have sent forces to the war under the NATO banner, with Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Poland the largest European contributors, providing 21,000 troops together. In comparison, Gen. Stanley McChrystal is likely to request an additional 30,000-40,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, effectively doubling the number of U.S. troops currently in the country.

One if the biggest problems I see is that since the end of WWII, once the media went to war with the troops, "The West" hasn't really "won" any major wars (Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, Kosovo, Iraq all come to mind). It isn't that the militarys have gotten any weaker, or the opponents any tougher, it is that the people the soldiers are fighting for have gotten weaker. I'm not saying that even losing one soldier isn't a great loss, but that is their job, and when they signed up they knew the risks. Look at WWII, on the Allied side there were over 16,000,000 military and over 45,000,000 civilians dead, the support for the war continued until the end. In Iraq, total deaths, on both sides and including civilians is currently listed around 1,339,711. Now that we have basically pulled out of Iraq, the media is focusing on Afghanistan, with a headline today stating the obvious in a way that makes you think it is the end of the world. "Afghanistan new most dangerous place for troops", well duh, it is the only place where we are really in the lead of the active fighting (Iraq is now mostly designated to the Iraqis to protect).

MYou make some very valid points. Once the media started to go to war with the soldiers and reporting on TV the American people couldn't stomach it. Not to mention what I believeto be the biggest flaw in the excution of the warplan, not only now but as you say since the end of WWII is that policitians have become too involved int the war plan and exuction and the trained soldiers are not allowed to complete their mission as they have been trained and equipped to do. The increasing cqasualities would quickly wane if our armed forces were allowed to fight as they deem necessary to successfully complete their assigned mission.