“Clear, Build, Hold, Transfer”: Can Obama's Afghan Strategy Work?

Abstract

After years of policy neglect under the Bush administration, President Barack Obama came into office with a firm resolve to achieve U.S. interests, variously defined, in Afghanistan. Most recently, Obama declared that by August 2011, the United States will begin making a conditions-based transfer of responsibility to Afghans under the mantra of “clear, hold, build, and transfer.” In this article, the author evaluates the viability of this strategy. This article ultimately argues that this approach will prove inefficacious and calls for an immediate reconsideration of U.S. national security interests and appropriate contingency planning. Such an exercise will likely direct policy attention away from Afghanistan and toward Pakistan, where more U.S. security interests intersect than in Afghanistan.