Why Should Obama Reconsider Withdrawal From Afghanistan?

President Barack Obama announced massive troop cut in Afghanistan at the joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on January 11. Is this strategy right? See the following two videos.

In terms of military strategy, Frederick Kagan, Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, comments that sufficient number of frontline bases are indispensable for helicopter operations in remote areas. If troops are cut substantially, those bases will be concentrated on Kabul, which makes it difficult to attack terrorist bases in the Af-Pak border area.

Senator John McCain criticized that President Barack Obama’s decision overruled advises from the army as in the case of Iraq, in an interview with CBS News on January 13. Such disengagement will be interpreted as the weakness and reluctance of the United States in the War on Terror. This would ultimately pose negative impacts to US national security.

Both politically and militarily, Obama’s post 2014 strategy needs to be reconsidered.