Herman Cain on The War in Afghanistan

Summary

Herman Cain has been supportive of the goals of the war in Afghanistan and US involvement. He has refrained from offering a strategy in Afghanistan and has stated that doing so prior to having all information available to the President is not realistic.

Daily Caller Interview

In October of 2010, Herman Cain was interviewed by the Daily Caller and stated that the situation in Afghanistan was a mess.

As for what’s going on in the Middle East right now, Cain said the president has to listen to military experts – adding that the situation in Iraq is stable, but Afghanistan is “still a mess” because of internal conflicts within the Afghan government.

“Politics have had too big a part to play in how we handled working in Afghanistan. General [David] Petraeus and the other generals should decide on the rules of engagement, not politicians and that has been part of the problem,” Cain said. “He [President Obama] is not qualified to write a military strategy. That’s not leadership. Listen to the military experts. That’s my approach to handling war and international conflict.”

South Carolina Debate

On May 5, 2011 Herman Cain participated in the Republican debate in South Carolina. He states that he would have to confer with military leaders and establish a goal prior to setting a plan for Afghanistan.

Fox News Sunday

On May 22, 2011 Herman Cain appeared on Fox News Sunday and spoke about Afghanistan. He stated that he was not able to present a plan because he would not be privy to all the available intelligence information until he was President. 

WALLACE: We have been at war in Afghanistan for almost 10 years. And yet you say -- and you say it quite proudly -- you have no plan for what to do in Afghanistan. You'd have to wait until you got into office, until you met with the experts, until you met with military officials and then you decided.
Don't you owe to people who are thinking of voting for you to give them some idea about what you would do about a major U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan?

CAIN: I do. And here's what I owe them -- I owe them the right approach to the right decision such that we're not there 10 more years.

WALLACE: So, what is the right approach?

CAIN: The right approach is: the day I'm elected president, I will start on that plan such that the day I was sworn in, I will be able to implement the plan.

WALLACE: But that doesn't tell anybody what you're -- I mean, do you support counterinsurgency or counterterrorism?

CAIN: Chris, let's go back -- let's go back -- let's go back to the fundamental question. We've got to work on the right problem. I think it is disingenuous to tell the American people what I would do when I don't have the intelligence information. I don't have all of the factors that are affecting this particular situation.

I owe the American people a responsible decision and a responsible plan. And I don't think any candidate can responsibly say what they would do if they are elected president.

References

[1] Website: The Daily Caller Article: Potential presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks to TheDC about where he stands on domestic, fore Author: Matthew Boyle Accessed on: 05/09/2011

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