Center for American Progress

The U.S. Still Doesn’t Know What It Wants to Get Done in Afghanistan
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The U.S. Still Doesn’t Know What It Wants to Get Done in Afghanistan

The unanswered questions that remain about the president's Afghanistan strategy, and the lack of a clear definition of the endstate America is working toward in both Afghanistan and Pakistan remain fundamental policy problems, writes Brian Katulis.

It seems that the constituency for sort of starting to kind of end the longest war in America’s history is pretty small, based on the initial reactions in America to President Obama’s speech on Afghanistan.

Inside the Beltway, the initial responses were all over the map. Republicans are sharply divided — some warned against mission creep and costly nation building, while others argued that America needs to stay the course and "win" in Afghanistan without defining what a "win" actually is. This confused reaction from Republicans is part of a broader dynamic I have written about before — today’s Republican Party is more divided on national security issues than it has been in decades and does not know what it stands for on foreign policy.

The above excerpt was originally published in Foreign Policy. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

 (Brian Katulis)

Brian Katulis

Former Senior Fellow