While Nancy Pelosi is busy attacking the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Secretary Gates has made it pretty clear that he supports McChrystal's request for more troops. Gates said last night, "Because of our inability, and the inability, frankly, of our allies, (for putting) enough troops into Afghanistan, the Taliban do have the momentum right now, it seems." Apparently Gates didn't get the NSC memo saying everything's going swimmingly in the war against the Taliban.
In any case, we now have a pretty good sense of where the main players in the administration fall on the issue of more troops. On one side are McChrystal, Mullen, Petraeus, and Gates. On the other side -- Joe Biden.
The Washington Post lays out the stakes in an editorial today:
Defeating the Taliban and fostering an Afghan government and army that can stabilize the country are daunting tasks that will require years of patience. It could be that even a concerted effort, along the lines proposed by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, would fail. There should be no mistaking, however, what the stakes of this conflict are. Whether or not al-Qaeda regains its pre-9/11 haven, a Taliban victory would be a catastrophe for the United States and its allies.
