Kissinger Critiques Obama's Afghan Strategy

By Lisa Kellman

The man who played a quintessential role in shaping Cold War policy, opening China for trade and ending the war in Vietnam shared deep hesitation Tuesday with America’s strategy to effectively leave Afghanistan by 2014.

During a panel discussion at the Woodrow Wilson Center Tuesday, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger argued that the U.S. should attempt to negotiate with Afghanistan’s neighbors before delving into talks with the Taliban.

“For the purposes of ending the war, the first negotiation ought to…be with surrounding countries because the Taliban of all the possible negotiating partners has the greatest interest in getting us out and the least interest in maintaining the subsequent agreement,” said Kissinger.

Surrounding countries will be affected the most by America’s withdrawal, and thus America’s fundamental principle should be to create a framework for Afghanistan that can be sustained by countries that have an interest in conserving it, Kissinger explained.

The issue America now faces with Afghanistan is no different than any other modern American war in history, Kissinger added, including Vietnam. Kissinger said that in Vietnam, Korea, and Afghanistan, America selected objectives that were e too difficult to achieve in the allotted time.