Every President Needs a Little War

Here is an interesting essay on why we are trying to fight in Afghanistan, by a veteran American reporter, William Pfaff, based in France. Here's a taste:

A retired CIA counterterrorism chief named Haviland Smith has suggested in
a newspaper article that Obama trapped himself during the campaign into having
his own war (like most other recent presidents). He made the promise to leave
Iraq, and to defend against Republican accusations of weakness he announced that
instead he would fight the real war in Afghanistan, theoretically against bin
Laden. Now Obama is caught, and has handed the war over to his military
advisers, who assure him that they know how to win wars, even though they are at
a loss to explain what would constitute victory in this one.