Biden: Afghan Government Has to "Step Up"

By: Daniel Carty
Topics: Afghanistan

Vice President Joe Biden said the target of withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 18 months makes President Obama's newly announced troop increase more palatable to the American public and sends a message to the Afghan government to get serious about fighting militants.

"To be completely blunt with you, it probably makes it more palatable but that's not the purpose," Biden told "Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith Wednesday. "The purpose is to make it clear to [President Hamid] Karzai and his government, that up until now has been unwilling to step up to the ball, 'Fellas, you've got to step up to the ball.'"

Mr. Obama announced plans Tuesday to at the fastest pace possible, with the first deployment of new Marines likely coming by Christmas. The president vowed to begin drawing down forces by July 2011.

Biden said it was a "date certain to begin the process" because he's confident that the revamped U.S. strategy will effectively stabilize the region. But the timetable for withdrawal drew immediate criticism.

"If you tell the enemy when you're leaving, it despirits your friends because they have to stay there in the neighborhood," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told Smith, though he supports the president's overall strategy.

More Coverage:
Full Text of Obama's Remarks
Bob Schieffer: "Defining Moment" of Obama Presidency
McChrystal "Absolutely" Supports Timeline
Troops, Families Brace for Surge
Congress Scrutinizes New Afghan Plan
Marc Ambinder's Analysis: Obama Taking Big Risk
Mark Knoller: No Mention of "Victory"
McCain: No Deadlines for Afghan Withdrawal
Rep. Obey: Afghan War Must Be Paid For
Obama's Surge Comes with Expiration Date
Who Offers the Better Deal in Afghanistan?
Liberals Chastise Afghanistan Troop Increase
Polling Analysis: Afghanistan 2009 Vs. Iraq 2007
CBSNews.com Special Report: Afghanistan

Biden said the president's plan will bolster both the Afghan and Pakistani governments in their struggle against Taliban and al Qaeda militants.

"All along I've been arguing the strategy is more important than the numbers. And the president laid out the strategy. This is a regional issue. Number one priority [is] al Qaeda; number two [is] Pakistan; number three [is] giving the Karzai government a fighting chance to be able to sustain itself. The threat to the United States remains in the mountains in Pakistan. That's where we have to keep our focus."

The restive border region between the two nations has become a safe haven for militants and is widely believed to house al Qaeda leadership, including Osama bin Laden.

Biden said the president's plan will offer economic assistance to Pakistan and involves closer work with that country's military on counterterrorism. Pakistan is currently engaged in its largest military offensive against militants in the mountainous northwest region but has also seen a drastic increase in terrorist attacks on civilians and government targets.

Despite the criticism from McCain, the president's plan may face its toughest resistance from fellow Democrats and liberals, who have grown increasingly restless over the eight-year conflict.

Biden said the refined strategy should assuage the skeptics.

"We have narrowed the objective. We know exactly what our interests are for the United States. …We're going to be a lot safer, a lot more secure. And we will, in fact, be able to leave Afghanistan eventually with a government that's able to take care of itself."

5 Comments Have Your Say
Email Story Send to a Friend
Share This Tell Your Friends
Tweet This Tweet This
More Share It

Add a Comment


by PaGuy1960 December 2, 2009 10:17 AM EST: The whole timetable thing is a load of crap. They said it to appease the libs so they're not too bent out of shape. There is now way in hell that a withdrawel happens that soon. Another promise that won't be kept. If anyone here believes this than Naive isn't even the word strong enough to describe you. He figures he suckered everyone in the first time around why not again.; Reply to this comment


by Nikos_Retsos December 2, 2009 9:28 AM EST: If John McCain thins that "leaving Afghanistan dispirits your friends," he must be reminded that we have no friends in Afghanistan. The only friends we have in Afghanistan are Karzai and his corrupt bureaucracy that become millionaires with the billions we put into Afghanistan. Outside kabul, and big cities with foreign troops garrisons, the Afghan people hate the foreign forces because they are suffering with nighttime raids and shooting by the U.S. forces, and relentless bombing with aircraft and Predator drones that kill thousands of civilians every year. And the echo coming from Afghanistan countryside and villages has always been "Death to America" by villagers after every bombing or nighttime raids that ended up with civilian loss of life. Those people will never be our friends because they suffer the brutality of our occupation of their land.

Obama's gamble will fail, because a similar gamble failed in Vietnam. Fact: The U.S. had 130.000 troops in Vietnam when U.S. president Lyndon Johnson increased them to 500.000. Johnson also pushed the South Vietnamese U.S. puppet regime to increase its 260.000 troops to 600.000 - all U.S. trained and equipped- as Obama wants to do in Afghanistan. In addition, Johnson trained and equipped Kmer mercenaries in Laos, and overthrew Cambodia's government with a coup by the U.S. puppet General Lon Nol.

Then, with 500.000 U.S. troops; 600.000 South Vietnamese troops; 40.000 Kmer mercenaries, and 110.000 Cambodian troops - a total of 1.250.000 troops, Johnson bragged in a public speech -like Obama did yesterday- that "the U.S. will defeat the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong insurgents on the battlefield!" That was in 1964. Ten years later, the U.S. realized that it cannot win the war, and started withdrawing its troops from Vietnam in a plan it called "The Vietnamization of the Vietnam War." Then, the South Vietnamese army started defecting en mass to VietCong, and the U.S. was forced to withdraw its last troops hastily from the fortified U.S. embassy rooftop in Vietnam.

The same will happen in Afghanistan with the Obama plan that entails "the Afghanization of the Afghan war!" And since the Afghan plan will master at most a total of about 500.000 troops, and the about 300.000 Afghan troops will defect easily to Taliban, or shoot the U.S. soldiers in the back when the opportunity comes -as they have done it before, the Obama plan is laughable at best. But Obama was a clueless local politician before he was elected, and he is totally clueless on what he is doing now in Afghanistan. Worse yet, he revealed his total bliss and ignorance on war history yesterday when he said during his speech yesterday that "people who see a Vietnam in Afghanistan don't understand history!" Well, he gave himself an "F" grade in war history publicly to the whole world yesterday, and now he expects to win the war in Afghanistan with it! Sorry, Mr. president. You may have won a Nobel Peace Prize for nothing, but wars have never been won by incompetent or clueless leaders. Nikos Retsos, retired professor; Reply to this comment


by Turbidite December 2, 2009 8:42 AM EST: How many times is our government going to say this to Karzai without realizing that saying it and doing it are wo different things? Telling Afghanitan to "step up" is like telling a crow to fly without its wings.; Reply to this comment


by azkobushi December 2, 2009 8:41 AM EST: Have we learned nothing from Vietnam? History is wasted on politicians.

"All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting." - George Orwell; Reply to this comment


by cbs4me3 December 2, 2009 8:18 AM EST: Easy for him to say. Afghanistan has been through huge upheaval for 30 years continuous, and this guy expects a miracle in one year? Thankfully, John McCain has the courage to speak to this folly.; Reply to this comment