There were 30 ships under my command during the war in Afghanistan — 20 from allied nations, including Greece, Germany, and Australia. There were even Japanese ships, conducting that nation’s rare deployments outside of its waters since World War II. The world was with us in our struggle against the terrorists who struck us on 9/11 from their havens in Afghanistan and the border region of Pakistan.
But when the battle group steered from the Indian Ocean for the Persian Gulf and Iraq, only the ships from the United Kingdom and Australia sailed with us, and I knew we were making a tragic mistake. We shifted attention and resources away from the real front lines of the war on terror in Afghanistan. Now, according to a National Intelligence Estimate, there is an “emboldened” Afghan insurgency, a government whose authority is deteriorating, and a country on a “downward spiral” into chaos. In 2007, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Congress that “in Afghanistan, we do what we can, in Iraq, we do what we must.”
Those priorities spelled disaster for the fight against Al Qaeda, and I commend President Obama for turning the focus of the United States and the world back to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Our renewed efforts do not come without cost. This July marked the deadliest month for coalition forces in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion. It is understandable that many Americans would be wary of our continued and escalating involvement in this complex and long-running conflict. However, the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region is and always has been the central front in the war against terrorism and today it has emerged as a “safe haven” for Al Qaeda. We must summon the leadership and resolve necessary to deny solace or sanctuary to the terrorists who struck us on 9/11.
We must make the necessary commitments of troops and additional economic aid, but we owe the American people clear benchmarks to define success and a sound exit strategy to bring our fighting men and women home when that is achieved.
The development of the National Security Strategy of Engagement that I oversaw as Director for Defense Policy at President Clinton’s National Security Council demanded that our commitments not be open-ended, our operations not be conducted without clear benchmarks for success or failure, and we not enter a conflict without a viable exit strategy. President Obama has called for clear metrics on these issues. That is why I have cosponsored legislation to require the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress an exit strategy with benchmarks for military forces in Afghanistan.
In the months to come, having committed additional manpower and undertaken bold new operations, casualties among coalition forces in Afghanistan are likely to rise. But with the right comprehensive strategy of focused military efforts and a long-term economic partnership with our allies, we can finally strike the decisive blow against the terrorists who attacked us eight years ago.
Rep. Joe Sestak is a former 3-star admiral and a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.