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Comment by krustyburger | Hacker News Reader

The US did not pull out of Afghanistan under Obama.

I said eventually, and he did set the stage for the pull out. he could have done the opposite and established longer term commitments. Honestly, my view is that both countries should have been incorporated as US territories. $20tn is not a small amount, and by virtue of being the aggressors, they've lost their right to self-rule (yes, even in without wmd's Saddam was taunting support for US's enemies).

Giving him credit for something executed under an administration two presidencies later seems like a bit of a stretch in any case.

But especially in this specific case, where he actually presided over a dramatic US escalation in Afghanistan:

https://www.afghanistanwarcommission.senate.gov/press-releas...

Without which an eventual withdrawal wouldn't have been possible. If he didn't do all that, the reason behind the war to begin with (afghan's hosting terrorists) wouldn't have been solved making withdrawal impossible. You'll note, there are no terror plots originating from Afghanistan now. And to be fair, most of that credit goes to Bush, but Obama didn't dismantle what Bush started just for the sake of appearances of pleasing the Nobel committee. Say what you will, but he did great militarily.

Obama considered the war in Afghanistan justified- at least that is my recollection from one of his debates with McCain. Obama considered the Iraq unnecessary- and got him elected.

in 2008 the American public was deeply upset about how things were going in Iraq. Obama was one of the only 2 senators voting against the war in Iraq back in 2003; and Hillary Clinton voted for the war in Iraq, while McCain vowed to be aWar president. In this climate Obama won both the Democratic nomination and later the US presidency.

You're 100% right. I disagree with him about Iraq but you're right that it was part of what got him elected. it made him look like a person that take the country in a new direction.

A minor detail, surely.

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