Biden no longer a lone voice on Afghanistan
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WASHINGTON -- A few hours after getting off a plane from America's war zones, Joe Biden slipped into a chair, shook off his jet lag and reflected on what he had seen. The situation in Iraq, he said, was much improved. In Pakistan, he said he saw encouraging signs.
Then he came to Afghanistan and shook his head.
"It has deteriorated significantly," he said. "It's going to be a very heavy lift."
That was six days before Mr. Biden was sworn in as vice president in January, and just after he had met with President-elect Barack Obama, who had dispatched him on the fact-finding mission to figure out just what the new administration was inheriting. Mr. Biden's assessment was even grimmer during his private meeting with Mr. Obama, according to officials.
From the moment they took office, Mr. Biden has been Mr. Obama's in-house pessimist on Afghanistan, the strongest voice against further escalation of U.S. forces there and the leading doubter of the president's own strategy. It was a role that may have been lonely at first but has attracted more company inside the White House as Mr. Obama rethinks the strategy he unveiled just seven months ago.
For Mr. Biden, a longtime senator who prided himself on his experience in foreign relations, the role represents an evolution in his own thinking, a shift from his days as a liberal hawk advocating loudly for U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. Month by month, year by year, the story of Mr. Biden's disenchantment with the Afghan government, and by extension with the engagement there, mirrors America's slow but steady turn against the war, as measured in public opinion polls.
The percentage of Americans who approve of the way Mr. Obama has dealt with Afghanistan dropped to 44 percent in late September from 56 percent in April, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll.
"He came to question some of the assumptions and began asking questions about whether there might be other approaches that might get you as good or better results at lower cost," said Richard N. Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations who has been consulted by Mr. Biden on the matter.
Mr. Biden does not favor abandoning Afghanistan, but his approach would reject the additional troops sought by Gen. Stanley McChrystal and leave the U.S. force in Afghanistan roughly the same, at 68,000 troops.
Rather than emphasize protecting the Afghan population, Mr. Biden would accelerate training of Afghan forces to take over the fight while hunting al-Qaida in Pakistan using drones and special forces. His view has caught on with many liberals in his party.
Mr. Biden's journey on the American war in Afghanistan began where it did for many political leaders. He strongly supported President George W. Bush's decision to topple the Taliban following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In an interview in December of that year, he argued for that effort even if it took a long time, saying "it will be chaos again" if America were to "drain the swamp and walk away."
He traveled there in January 2002 and came back convinced that the United States had to be all in, and that half measures were not enough. When Mr. Bush invaded Iraq, Mr. Biden's focus shifted, but he eventually expressed concern that Iraq was diverting attention from Afghanistan and began refocusing on what Democrats were calling "the good war" as he opened his campaign for president.
First Published October 14, 2009 12:00 am
