IPS News’s Washington Bureau Chief Jim Lobe discusses the Obama administration’s Afghanistan strategy and its effects ahead of the U.S. 2012 presidential campaign and the expected withdrawal of U.S.-led combat forces by 2014. Notes Jim:

Politically the administration has to care a lot [about what happens in Afghanistan] because since he came into office Obama has tried to depict the Afghanistan war as the “good war” as opposed to the not so good war in Iraq and he’s invested quite a lot in what might be called success but it doesn’t appear to be turning out that way. He’s sent over 60,000 additional troops during his term to Afghanistan and if things go south too quickly, it will be highly embarrassing to him and it will be a major point of weakness during his election campaign that Republicans are sure to exploit.