article imageHuffington calls for Biden to resign over Afghan troop build up

By Michael Krebs.
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Oct 18, 2009 by  Michael Krebs - 26 votes, 14 comments
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As the war effort in Afghanistan faces increased resistance from the Taliban on the ground and from many in the U.S. Congress, political news personality Arianna Huffington suggests Biden should resign if Obama agrees to more troops.
As war efforts go, the Afghanistan struggle is decidedly complex. U.S. and NATO forces on the ground there face an increasingly sophisticated enemy in the Taliban and an increasingly ambiguous objective that appears to have morphed from one of finding and neutralizing Osama Bin Laden to a more vague purpose of protecting loose pockets of Afghan populations from the Taliban's acts of revenge.
The complexities on the ground have led to calls for more troops, and the question of additional troops has increasingly pitted U.S. Vice President Joe Biden against those who are making the requests for more American forces.
Biden's position has caught the attention of the more liberal wings of the Democratic party - who outright oppose the conflict. Political news personality Arianna Huffington used her blog site to suggest that Biden resign from his position should the request for additional troops in Afghanistan go through.
Huffington cites a Newsweek piece in demonstrating how Biden compares the war in Afghanistan to the conflict in Pakistan, drawing an uneven line among U.S. investments in both challenges.
"'Can I just clarify a factual point? How much will we spend this year on Afghanistan?' Someone provided the figure: $65 billion. 'And how much will we spend on Pakistan?' Another figure was supplied: $2.25 billion. 'Well, by my calculations that's a 30-to-1 ratio in favor of Afghanistan. So I have a question. Al Qaeda is almost all in Pakistan, and Pakistan has nuclear weapons. And yet for every dollar we're spending in Pakistan, we're spending $30 in Afghanistan. Does that make strategic sense?' The White House Situation Room fell silent."
It is unclear how far apart Biden is from President Barack Obama on the issue, but Huffington's suggesting points to the increased fragmentation among Party loyalists.
"Obama may be no drama, but Biden loves drama. And what could more dramatic than resigning the vice presidency on principle," Huffington wrote.
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