Jenny Thompson

"Obama will soon have to make an unpopular and controversial decision about America’s involvement in Afghanistan. The president has two choices: One is to drastically increase the number of troops in Afghanistan by 40,000 to 60,000. Another is to do nothing or order a purely symbolic increase."

Thus spake the Washington Post on October 28, 2009.

The question of escalation in Afghanistan is almost never posed as a real question. In the 1960s, as the US escalated military involvement in Vietnam, the question that confronted the world was whether or not it was correct or even just to be waging that war. "US Out of Vietnam" was the cry of those who opposed the war.

Now a different generation holds the reigns of US power. The US is a different country, indeed, but the issue of waging war should be examined through the lens of smart history: the so-called "lessons" of the Vietnam War should be remembered and applied.

The question today should not be: how many troops, if any, should be deployed?

The question should be: should the US be waging war in Afghanistan?

The Vietnam War was never truly settled. Perhaps Americans still remain divided over its aims, its effects. But in the shadow of that war the single most significant question people considered was whether or not the war was just.

The question of escalation was not a question of quantity.

Escalation implies a commitment to a war.

Today, we need to re-frame the question. We need to shorten the already long shadow cast by a war that has been waged for eight long years.