Freeze on US Troop Withdrawal From Afghanistan Marks Latest Chapter in Debate Over 'Cut and Run'

When President Barack Obama announced recently that he would freeze a planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, he explained that Afghanistan remained a dangerous place. At the same time, he emphasized that the timeline for withdrawal (most U.S. troops are to be out of Afghanistan by the end of next year) had not changed.

The delay in the drawing down of U.S. forces comes at a time when the president has been pressured to either get out of Afghanistan entirely or expand and extend our military presence there. The delay also has been accompanied by a similar debate in Iraq, where more than 3,000 U.S. troops remain.

Withdrawing from these two countries has brought to our attention just how hard it is for the U.S. to extricate itself from its military interventions. Indeed, most people -- even the smartest, most level-headed government officials and military experts -- find that doing so is agonizingly difficult and much more challenging than the original intervention.

My own experience with the question of withdrawal dates back to Vietnam. I entered Congress in the mid-1960s as a supporter of the war, but gradually changed my opinion. As my view of the war changed, I struggled, like many others did, with the question of pulling out our military presence. I now find it remarkable how many strong similarities exist between our nation's challenge in getting out of Vietnam and what we confront today in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The president's decision regarding troop withdrawal from Afghanistan represents just the latest chapter in the debate over the issue of how to withdraw. On one side of the debate are those who think we should pull out all military presence now to avoid any further losses in Afghanistan, where U.S. troops have been stationed since 2001 in our longest war. On the other side are those who want the U.S. to be even more deeply involved and not leave until Afghanistan is secure and stable. However, recent history has indicated our policymakers and perhaps the majority of Americans reject both of these options. For obvious reasons, we're unwilling to commit to an all-out war and decades of building a new nation. Yet we're also unwilling to cut and run in the hope that we can figure out a way to do so responsibly, honorably and with a sense of accomplishment. Read More at Huffingtonpost,  Lee H. Hamilton

Freeze on US Troop Withdrawal From Afghanistan Marks Latest Chapter in Debate Over 'Cut and Run'