Obama, Biden try to drum up support for Afghan war as Democrats balk

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama and his No. 2, Joe Biden, are publicly banging the drum for the administration's war effort days after lawmakers reluctantly agreed to fund a military surge in Afghanistan as support for the war steadily wanes in Congress.

Obama took to the televised kaffeeklatsch known as "The View" to defend his administration's policy on Afghanistan in an interview that aired Thursday.

Host Barbara Walters pointed out that there are reportedly only a few dozen members of al-Qaida in Afghanistan, asking him point-blank: "Why don't we get out?"

Obama replied there was still work to be done.

"Although al-Qaida right now is primarily in Pakistan in those border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, it's not hard for them to move in and out across those borders," the president told the show, an apparent favourite of his wife, Michelle.

"These are uncontrolled borders. And the folks who perpetrated 9-11, and their allies, are still congregated there. That is still the epicentre of terrorism targeting the United States."

Biden attempted to put a positive spin on U.S. military operations in Afghanistan in his remarks to NBC's "Today Show" in an interview also broadcast Thursday.

"I assure you, we are doing significant damage to al-Qaida in Pakistan as well as in Afghanistan so we're making progress," Biden said. "But the truth of the matter is that there's more to go."

He stressed the U.S. was not in Afghanistan to "nation-build," but for the sole aim of eliminating al Qaida in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Obama announced in December he was sending an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, but also said U.S. soldiers would begin withdrawing in July 2011. Canada is ending its 10-year mission in Afghanistan in 2011 as well.

Both Obama and Biden sat down Thursday at the White House for the president's monthly meeting with his national security team to discuss the latest developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan amid a growing atmosphere of antipathy on Capitol Hill. The meeting comes just days after the whistle-blower web site, WikiLeaks, published more than 91,000 secret military documents on the war.

Congressional Democrats, in particular, are increasingly anti-war, forcing the Obama administration to rely on Republicans to get the votes they needed in the House of Representatives earlier this week for a US$33-billion surge in Afghanistan.

The vote wasn't a squeaker, by any means. The measure approving US$59 billion for the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and other domestic spending, passed 308-114.

But 102 Democrats voted against it. Last year, only 32 Democrats opposed Afghan war funding.

Nine years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and George W. Bush's ensuing war on terror, Democrats are increasingly viewing the war in Afghanistan as unwinnable and a waste of funds desperately needed stateside as the U.S. struggles to pull out of a stubborn recession.

"It's now the longest running war in American history with no end in sight," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.

"Democrats are looking at this war and the tens of billions of dollars that are being spent on it and asking, 'Why are we doing this when we're laying off teachers in some states?' It's a feeling that we have limited resources and they're being poured down the rat hole in Afghanistan."

But even with the US$1 trillion price tag so far for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the conflicts haven't sparked the kind of passionate anti-war movement that raged during the Vietnam War, largely because they resulted from the trauma of 9-11, Jillson said.

Most Americans continue to support the war, although a Gallup poll two weeks ago suggested a record high of 38 per cent believe the U.S. "made a mistake" sending troops to Afghanistan.

Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, reminded a skeptical House panel earlier this week what American troops are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I don't want to waste time going back to 9-11, but that is why we are there," he said. "We would not be choosing to fight on the most remote and difficult terrain in the world if we had not been attacked on September 11, 2001."

But Jillson said even that argument is no longer resonating with some Democrats.

"Ten years after 9-11, the focus was on Iraq and Afghanistan was secondary. The surge brought Iraq under control for awhile and we're ending combat operations there and that's clear," he said.

"But attention has shifted back to Afghanistan and we're nine years in. Tens of billions of dollars have been invested, and it doesn't look much different than it did when we first went in. Nothing's improving."

One Democratic lawmaker said the U.S. has its priorities out of order.

"We're told we can't extend unemployment or pay to keep cops on the beat or teachers in the classroom but we're asked to borrow another $33 billion for nation building in Afghanistan," Democratic congressman Jim McGovern said after voting against the funding.

"I think we need to do more nation-building here at home."