Obama to Make Statement of Afghan Policy Thursday

Mullen Insists Nothing Will Change

Over a year after announcing a massive escalation of the war in Afghanistan, President Obama will address the nation Thursday with a “public version” of the official stance on the war. Spolier alert – they’re going to say it’s going great.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs gave something of an advanced notice, saying the president believed the war was going quite well. Admiral Michael Mullen pointed to this as well, suggesting that even through 2012 he doesn’t see any significant changes in the level of troops in the nation.

That is surely the official public position of this administration, which spent the last two years pointing to the war getting worse and worse as proof they needed to escalate and now, faced with rising opposition and dramatically worse violence, is pleased as punch.

But most of the less-than-public data, including the seldom discussed review sent to Congress just three weeks ago, point to a dreadfully worsening Afghan War, and the predictions of success seem to be reserved exclusively for the occasional photo ops needed to justify to the public the rubber stamping of what is, ultimately, a failed strategy in a failed war.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.