Chairman of the Republican Party Michael Steele made some awkward comments about Obama’s policy in Afghanistan, irking the right wing. With reaction from the left no better, we see that the War in Afghanistan is simply not a left/right issue at all.

Those who oppose a withdrawal, and favor continued armed intervention in Afghanistan, who seem to be the heavy majority of our politicians and decision makers it seems, may be advocating a variety of the worst things we can do at this point. I hope not, but I don’t see that any hot war strategy in Afghanistan actually speaks to the problem of localized terrorism animated by a fundamentalist ideological movement that is international in character. And, before a decision is made to follow one of the hot war options, I think the advocates for any and all of these, should be made to explain carefully, and in the context of the strongest criticisms that can be mustered from advocates of other options, including the option of withdrawal, how that can be expected to decrease the probability of an attack on the United States by Islamist terrorists.

The Administration needs to remember that there is risk in all options, not just the withdrawal option, and that a fair critical comparison of all of them might well indicate that the hot war options are much more risky than the cold war ones in the long term. And that, not to put too fine a point on it, it is time to leave Afghanistan, to bring most of our people home, and to follow that cold war, containment, and competition strategy to defend ourselves.