Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's surprise announcement earlier this month that Afghanistan is being viewed as a "major non-NATO ally" of the United States was, perhaps, an attempt to address one of President Barack Obama's most controversial - and we believe ill advised - decisions.
Early in his presidency, the president announced all U.S. combat troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by 2014.
That no doubt emboldened Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists fighting to regain control of Afghanistan.
If anything, we believe, it has put more, not fewer, U.S. troops in peril.
Clinton said the new declaration represents "a powerful commitment to Afghanistan's future. We are not even imagining abandoning Afghanistan."
But Islamic terrorists battling U.S. and other NATO troops will see that for what it is - a bluff.
They will consider Obama's policies to date and, regardless of the president's intentions now, will only continue intensifying their attacks.