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by Webster Brooks, Sr. Fellow - Center for New Politics and Policy

Today, the Center for New Politics and Policy (CNPP) released its
recommendations to abate the Taliban insurgency and stabilize Afghanistan
with a new strategy paper called “Obama Can Win Afghanistan with Soft
Partition & the Reverse McChrystal Strategy” (RMS). The RMS report
highlights recommendations to halt the Taliban’s momentum, reconfigure
US/NATO force structure on the ground with 20,000 additional troops,
stabilize Afghanistan’s post-election government and maximize vital
reconstruction efforts to unleash Afghanistan’s state building efforts.
The Reverse McChrystal Strategy provides a framework for President Obama’s
efforts over the next 18 months to achieve his central goal of preventing
a Taliban takeover and denying al Queda a platform in Afghanistan to
launch attacks against the United States. The report was drafted by Senior
Fellow Webster Brooks, Director of Brooks Foreign Policy Review; the
international affairs arm of the Center for New Politics and Policy. The
following summary of the Reverse McCrystal Strategy was released on
November 19, 2009 in Washington, D.C.

by Webster Brooks

With Hamid Karzai's re-election as President of Afghanistan guaranteed by Abdullah Abdullah's withdrawal from the race, President Obama is  moving U.S. policy towards the end-game of America's occupation in Afghanistan. To reverse the Taliban’s momentum, protect Afghanistan’s major population centers and allow more time for President Karzai’s embattled government to be stabilized, President Obama will deploy up to 20,000 additional U.S. troops. By steering a “middle course” with a scaled down version of General McCrystal’s counterinsurgency plan, the President hopes to tilt the battlefield in favor of U.S./NATO forces without launching a forward-based offensive in the Pashtun Belt that will result in heavy U.S. troop losses.  The "McCrystal Light" strategy will place more emphasis on containing the Taliban, rather than the U.S. taking aggressive actions to significantly degrade Taliban forces. President Obama's overarching strategic consideration will be re-setting the battlefield to give Afghanistan's indigenous anti-Taliban oppostion forces the leverage to militarily engage and nuetralize the Taliban over time as the U.S. starts drawing down forces in 2011.

President Obama’s decision to surge more U.S. troops to Afghanistan was never in question for several reasons. The Taliban’s growing momentum and influence cannot be allowed to expand without a challenge. Troop increases will also forestall a revolt by the U.S. military establishment and the Republican Party that have solidly backing the McCrystal plan. At the same time, a more robust presence of U.S. troops on the ground will send a message to America’s allies (NATO, India and Pakistan) and regional adversaries (Russia, Iran and China) that Afghanistan will not be abandoned.