Abstract
This chapter takes issue with this view arguing that the American willingness to stay engaged first and foremost will depend upon the ability of the US President to craft a strategic narrative that can convince most members of Congress that it is necessary to stay engaged, that it is the right thing to do, and that the United States, Afghanistan and the world will benefit from it. In addition, the President must promise success at an acceptable price and deliver it by demonstrating that progress is being made on a continuous basis. My argument has three parts. Part one explains why elite consensus is the key to sustain the US engagement in Afghanistan beyond 2017, and why a successful strategic narrative is required to create it. It provides an analytic framework specifying the requirements for success that a strategic narrative must meet in order to convince its intended audience. Part two shows how President Obama’s Afghanistan narrative met all these requirements for success and maintained US elite consensus for his 2009-2015 Afghanistan strategy. By equating success with the drawdown of US troops Obama was able to present the steady stream of soldiers returning home as incontrovertible proof to Congress and the American peo
ple that his strategy was working. Part three discusses the implications of these findings for sustaining the American engagement in Afghanistan beyond 2017. They suggest it possible to do so provided that the US President can craft a new strategic narrative that promises and delivers success in clear and compelling way to the US Congress and the American people. The main findings of the analysis are summed up in a conclusion at the end.