US Ambassador to Iraq: Al Qaeda a larger threat in Afghanistan

During Senator Joe Biden's (D-DE) thorough questioning of US Ambassador Ryan Crocker yesterday, the former presidential candidate got Crocker to admit that Afghanistan, not Iraq, is the central front in the war against those that attacked us on September 11th:

US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker conceded during Senate hearingstoday that Afghanistan, and not Iraq, is the main front in the fightagainst al-Qaeda.

Evading a direct answer to a question from Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) asto whether the focus of the war against the terror network is in Iraqor Afghanistan, Crocker finally said, "I would ... pick al-Qaeda in thePakistan-Afghanistan border area."

That's exactly what every Democratic presidential candidate believed.  John McCain feels a lot different.

Comments

[RJ]

Todd, in the post you state:
"That's exactly what every Democratic presidential candidate believed. John McCain feels a lot different."
Do you have any specific references where John McCain has said this? Not where he has stated he wants to stay in Iraq or anything like that, but specifically said that Afganistan is not as important or more important.

[Chief Editor: Todd]

Actions speak louder than words, RJ. When you favor a policy of putting five times as many troops in one country than the other, you are specifying that one war is more important than the other. That part should be obvious.

[RJ]

No, I think he's using different economy of force principles in each sector. Right now a bigger fight is in Iraq. Thus, if we stay, an expenditure of resources should be tilted to that region. These forces would be largly composed of standing regular forces for enforcement, supported by different specialties (counterinsurgents, Spec Ops, etc...), as it is urban warfare and area occupation. Then, analyzing the Afganistan region,with it's smaller pitched battles in very mountainous terrain, would we not send in a differnt type of force -- one more suited for that region, the threat, etc.... So, I've never heard anyone say one is more important than the other, just they are fought in different ways. Again, have you ever heard McCain say that Afganistan is less important?