President Obama's Afghanistan Predicament

President Obama announced this week that he promises to hold to his proposed strategy for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Now, however, the president is facing his toughest foreign policy decision ever-- whether or not to expand U.S. involvement in the increasingly unpopular Afghan War. The decision he makes will more than likely shape the remainder of his presidency, and he is taking it very seriously.
Analysis: While I disagree with certain parts of the president's Afghanistan strategy (I think we should leave the Middle East immediately), I think he is taking the high road by distancing himself from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whom the Bush administration was reportedly quite chummy with. Another winning strategy would be for Obama to continue sending foreign policy powerhouses, such as Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), to meet with Middle Eastern leaders. If he does these things, President Obama can be successful in regards to the Afghan situation.
The Bottom Line: It's time to cut our losses in the Middle East and bring our brave guys and gals home with honor. Our continued presence over there is only making our own national security situation more dangerous and breeding more sectarian violence-- especially amongst the Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds in Iraq and Christians, Muslims, and displaced (as a result of the Persian Gulf War (1990-91)) Kurds in neighboring Turkey (an overlooked "hot spot," IMHO), not to mention creating more terrorist cells. We are also impeding progress in terms of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Furthermore, the outcome of the Nov. 7 Afghan run-off election will more than likely be Karzai's unanimous re-election. The Iraqi and Afghan armies need to be forced to become self-sufficient so that good as opposed to more-corrupt-than-the-last puppet governments can take root in these nations. Moreover, we have enough problems here at home. We need to divert all that war funding to domestic matters so that we can continue to be a shining light on the world stage. Most importantly, this president is extremely aware of his legacy and the ramifications of his decisions on history. Therefore, I believe he will try to get us out of the Middle East as soon as possible and not escalate the Afghan War to a high degree.