One wonders how this rash move will harm the chances of getting out of Afghanistan. The Taliban is relishing the West's move:
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns this politically motivated and uncalled-for intervention and adventure by the Western countries in the internal conflict of the people of Libya,” the Taliban announced in a statement e-mailed to news organizations with the names the insurgents’ three key spokesmen.
This will be grist for conspiracy theories and Jihadist recruitment for a long time. Suddenly, the whole debate has moved from what the Arabs can do for themselves back into the old, awful dynamic of the Arab world versus the West. This is why so many of us backed Obama in the first place: his pledge never to go back to this dynamic. And yet one can see only one difference between Obama and McCain in this respect: about three weeks.
Welcome to the Clinton-McCain administration.
(Photo: A Libyan rebel walks past dead bodies of a member of Moammer Khaddafi forces in al-Wayfiyah, 35 km West of Benghazi hit by French warplanes on March 20, 2011. Top US military commander Michael Mullen said the first phase of the operation to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya 'has been successful' and that Moamer Kadhafi's forces are 'no longer marching on Benghazi.' By Patrick Baz/Getty.)