British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced plans to deploy 500 more troops to Afghanistan and indicated support for General Stanley McChrystal's counterinsurgency strategy.
The timing of Brown's announcement is quite remarkable, since Barack Obama is engaging in a well-publicized, drawn-out debate within his administration on whether to carry out General McChrystal's counterinsurgency strategy or pursue Joe Biden's counterterrorism strategy.
Gordon Brown is clearly trying to influence Obama's decision, and is a further sign that our allies are growing nervous at Obama's leadership. Obama called Afghanistan a "war of necessity" and critical to America's security throughout the presidential campaign and in the first seven months of his presidency, yet got cold feet when the effort looked harder than he hoped.
Even if Obama stays the course, Afghans and Pakistanis will now be more reluctant to side with America in the struggle against the terrorists and Taliban, due to Obama's waffling. Why side with someone who may abandon you, against someone who lives in your community?
While Obama's rhetoric may warm the hearts of leftists around the world, he is scaring key allies by waffling on the war on terror and in promoting nuclear disarmament as Iran works feverishly to develop nuclear weapons.
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