All Quiet on the Afghanistan Front

By Ryan Teague Beckwith May 21, 2012 – 4:48 p.m.

Bill Clark

Former Gov. Mitt Romney addresses the CPAC conference in 2010. To buy this photo, go to: http://roll.cl/cqrcpix

The war in Afghanistan is not getting much attention in the presidential campaign.
Although tens of thousands of U.S. troops are still deployed there, the subject has not come up much from the campaigns of either GOP presumptive nominee Mitt Romney or President Barack Obama, CQ’s Emily Cadei reports.

U.S. policy on Afghanistan has also increasingly confounded traditional partisan divisions on defense and foreign policy, making it virtually impossible for members of or aspirants to Congress to brandish their usual go-to attack lines — that Democrats are weak on national defense and Republicans are warmongers.
With little of political value to be gained by raising the issue, candidates on both sides of the aisle are staying with tried-and-true domestic themes. With all likelihood, they’ll be able to stick to that script through November.

Still, the issue could come up again, quickly, if violence breaks out, especially after the September deadline to remove surge troops.