Afghanistan

Gen. Stanley McChrystal recently delivered a 66-page report filled with blunt warnings and a fresh strategy to win the war in Afghanistan. That report, disclosed by The Washington Post, is a bracing read: The insurgent threat — and violence in the country — is growing. Afghan forces are weak and outnumbered. More resources — including more American troops — must be sent, or NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) could lose the war.

President Barack Obama seems to be trying to buy time for this decision on a big hike in troop levels. But he doesn’t have a lot of time. Large numbers of troops can’t be deployed overnight. And McChrystal says the next 12 months are crucial.

His report is sure to provoke a vigorous debate, with some Americans eager to scramble more soldiers, and others insistent that enough is enough.

Whatever Obama’s decision, the stakes are immense. Afghanistan isn’t some far-off spat with few implications for the U.S. and other societies. This page — like this president — has argued that letting Afghanistan revert to a breeding ground for global terrorists only risks more attacks like those of Sept. 11, 2001. By McChrystal’s strategy or by some other means that Obama chooses, the U.S. and NATO badly need to win this war. That is not just a military challenge, but a human one as well.

— Chicago Tribune