As President Obama continues to delay a decision on the August 30th request for additional forces, the Afghanistan debate is now centered on troop levels, war tactics and broader military strategy.  While these issues are fundamental to the success of the war effort, a more fundamental question arose as a result of Mr. Obama's election:  Why do we remain in Afghanistan?  The answer to this question is just as important as our overall military strategy.  Indeed, the President's continued equivocation on the nature of the war in Afghanistan has become the biggest threat to American success in that conflict. 

Our willingness to fight the enemies of freedom is why we were attacked on 9/11.  Al Qaeda didn't attack Russia or China on 9/11.  They attacked the United States because they understand American values.  Their leaders, including Osama Bin Laden, understand that Americans will not tolerate their attempts to enslave 1/2 of the human race by depriving them of their right to read, write, and to seek gainful employment.  When they seek to deny millions of people their religious freedom, they understand that it is America who will lead the fight against them.  The terrorists understand that Americans will fight any attempt to annihilate an entire race of people through a second holocaust. These are the reasons they attacked us on 9/11.  These are also the reasons that we remain in Afghanistan today.   

Afghanistan is the central battlefield in the War on Terror.  It was the Taliban government in Afghanistan that sheltered and supported Al Qaeda.  Afghanistan gave support and refuge to the man who murdered almost 3,000 Americans on 9/11.  Prior to the American invasion of Afghanistan, Sharia law turned that country into a medieval hell.  If we were to lose in Afghanistan, Afghani women would again be enslaved and brutalized.  An American defeat would result in the murder of the Afghanis who cooperated with us. An American pull out in Afghanistan would likely result in a new training ground for Al Qaeda from which a second holocaust could be planned. Unfortunately, the President appears incapable of understanding these simple truths.  His confusion is putting the war effort in danger. 

President Obama has spent his first year in office running around the world apologizing for American foreign policy.  It is as if our long standing foreign policy goals of expanding liberty and fighting oppression are mistakes to be corrected not noble causes to be admired.  He goes to Cairo and speaks of America's great Muslim heritage. He repeatedly apologizes for American "arrogance".  His administration doesn't even have the courage to recognize that we are involved in the War on Terror.  He won't even call homicide attacks "terrorist attacks".  Instead he uses the term: "man caused disasters". These equivocations won't create the conditions necessary for peace.  In the end, they only serve to weaken America because they attack our collective will to fight and embolden our terrorist enemy.    

Let us hope that when the President finally makes a decision on troop levels in Afghanistan he will also begin to recognize the nature of our fight against the forces of Islamic Fascism.  Let us hope that he will recognize that America's fight for freedom around the world is just.  Let us hope that he is inspired by the words of President Kennedy:

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us good or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

Let us pray that President Obama will recognize that America must always stand on the side of the oppressed against the oppressor.  If he does not, I fear that Mr. Obama will eventually lead us to defeat in Afghanistan.  Not because our military will fail but because he lacks the moral foundation necessary to make the decisions that will lead us to victory.  If that happens, we may end up fighting the same enemy on a battlefield much closer to home.     

Sam is an attorney currently working as a tax consultant and advisor to a variety of business clients located throughout the Midwest.  He is a native of Belpre, Ohio, and a graduate of Ohio State University (B.A. Political Science) and Capital University School of Law (J.D., LL.M. Tax and Business Law).  During his career, Sam has worked as in house counsel to a health care service provider and as an attorney in private practice.