In July of 2009, the Boards of the CLW and the Center adopted a position on Afghanistan calling on the Administration to provide a clear statement of objectives for the war and metrics that would show whether those objectives were being met.
To date, no such clear objectives have been publicly stated, except for a general notion of building a stable Afghanistan that cannot be used again by Al Qaeda as a base for planning and mounting attacks on the United States and its allies.
After nearly a decade of warfare that is currently costing about $10 billion per month with no clear path to ultimate resolution, and at a time when the U.S. Federal government must increase its involvement in fighting the most serious economic downturn since the great depression, and at a time when it is critical to prevent further slippage on the agenda of nuclear disarmament, it is time to change U.S.policy in Afghanistan. We must shift the burden of building a stable society to the Afghans, and refocus U.S. attention on national security concerns of more direct impact on the lives of Americans, including stemming the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The Boards of CLW and the Center endorse the new strategy proposed in the report of the Afghanistan Study Group.
