President Obama’s statement that he was not a Muslim leader but a mass murder of Muslims is accurate. While there hasn’t an attack on the same scale in the U.S. since 9/11, Al Qaeda affiliates have been directly targeted civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as other predominantly Muslim countries like Indonesia. Prior to 9/11 he plotted the death of hundreds in Kenya. His death provides a measure of justice for New York, for America as a whole, and for the world.
The location of his death seems pivotal. As Peter Baker, Helene Cooper, and Mark Mazzetti report: “When the end came for Bin Laden, he was found not in the remote tribal areas along the Pakistani-Afghan border where he has long been presumed to be sheltered, but in a massive compound about an hour’s drive north from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. He was hiding in the medium-sized city of Abbottabad, home to a large Pakistani military base and a military academy of the Pakistani Army.”
The war in Afghanistan drove Bin Laden out, but this operation hinged on our intelligence in and relationship with Pakistan and not our occupation of Afghanistan. Even more important, there has been a move towards self-determination in the Middle East that is more consequential to the future of that region than our ongoing military operations, even if you credit operations in Libya with helping to sustain that momentum. I would agree with Yglesias, now is an excellent time to declare victory and change our strategy towards Afghanistan. Specifically bringing our people home in significant numbers before the year is out and working out a status of forces agreement to govern our future relationship.
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