Moreover, to say that Obama’s decision “has nothing to do with domestic politics” is not entirely accurate. War is always a political decision. If you subscribe to Clausewitz’s definition of war, then it is simply an extension of politics by other means. Whenever a president sends troops into harm’s way, domestic political concerns are always a factor, particularly in a republic.

My point on Afghanistan, however, is that Obama and his team cited Afghanistan as the forgotten war throughout the 2008 election. They conducted their own major strategy review in the spring of this year. Now, we’re doing another strategy review. Government loves strategy reviews. Obviously, you want to make the right call, but it’s difficult to send more troops at any time. It will not be a popular decision and it’s very possible that he’s kicking the can down the road as long as he can. This is the biggest decision of his life and he’s very much of a middle-of-the-road guy. At some point a leader needs to make a decision. In the fog of war, you’ll never have all the information you’d like; there will always be uncertainty, but a decision needs to be made. That much is owed to the troops who’ve been fighting there for 8 years.