For Petraeus, apathy about Afghanistan may be the biggest challenge

The last time Gen. David Petraeus visited Capitol Hill to talk about a faltering war, there were few issues in Washington that seemed more pressing or important.

It was September 2007, and widespread public anger over the Bush administration's handling of Iraq had just given Democrats control of both houses of Congress. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, found himself facing unprecedented personal criticism. MoveOn.org, an anti-war group, ran a full-page newspaper ad on the first day of Petraeus' testimony which mockingly called him "General Betray Us" and accused the commander of "cooking the books for the White House." Members of Code Pink, another anti-war group, loudly heckled Petraeus during one of the hearings, forcing lawmakers to have the protesters forcibly dragged out of the room.

Petraeus will be back on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, this time to give his assessment of conditions in Afghanistan. Senior Obama administration officials, like their predecessors in the Bush White House, hope the general will make a compelling case that the retooled U.S. war strategy for Afghanistan is beginning to show progress despite mounting U.S. casualties and ongoing friction with the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

But there will be an enormous difference between Petraeus's appearances this week and his earlier testimony in 2007: this time around, far fewer people will be listening.

With the economy sluggish and the nation transfixed by the crisis in Japan and the political revolutions sweeping the Middle East, Afghanistan has increasingly become a forgotten war. Coverage of the conflict has all but disappeared from the nation's newspapers and TV channels, and Afghanistan barely registers in polls of voters' top concerns about the country.

The upshot is that Petraeus won't be facing vocal public or congressional opposition, like he did during the Iraq debate in 2007. Instead, he'll be facing something even more difficult to overcome: widespread apathy about Afghanistan, a war that much of the country no longer seems to consider all that important.

David Winston, a Republican pollster, said the nation's economic woes and sky-high unemployment rate are simply overshadowing all other issues.

"Think about a house with a roof on fire, and that fire is the economy," he told National Journal. "If you take a closer look, you may see a window is broken, and that could be health care. You may notice a crack in the foundation, and that could be the war in Afghanistan. But until you put the fire out, what's the point of paying any real attention to anything else?"

Petraeus, who commands the 100,000 American and 50,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, is the most decorated military officer of his generation. Lawmakers from both parties give him credit for turning around Iraq, where security conditions improved dramatically under his watch. He has been the subject of several glowing biographies and is so well-known among the general public that there is continued speculation that he will one day run for president (a rumor Petraeus has repeatedly and vocally denied).

He is also notably optimistic when it comes to Afghanistan. Petraeus met with President Obama at the White House on Monday, and a military official familiar with the session said the commander argued that NATO forces had made clear gains in the southern Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, which had long been two of the Taliban's main strongholds in the country. Petraeus is expected to tell lawmakers that the U.S. had made enough military progress that small numbers of troops could be safely withdrawn this summer, though the official said Petraeus would also warn of a renewed-and possibly last-ditch-series of Taliban offensives this spring and summer.

Petraeus's high public standing and strong belief that Afghanistan is winnable leave him uniquely well-suited to help the Obama administration make a public case for continuing the bloody war. The only problem, if recent polls are accurate, is that most Americans seem to have largely tuned out.

Gallup runs a regular tracking poll of how voters respond to an open-ended question about what they consider the most important problem facing the country. In its most recent survey, which was conducted March 3-6, 28 percent of respondents identified the economy while 26 percent pointed to unemployment. Afghanistan ranked so low in the survey that it literally appeared as only an asterisk. By way of comparison, at least twice as many people identified "lack of respect for each other."

There is one silver lining for Petraeus, though. MoveOn, which was formally censured by lawmakers from both parties after its "General Betray Us" ad four years ago, has no plans to repeat the stunt. Asked if MoveOn had plans to protest Petraeus' appearances or buy ads criticizing his handling of the war, spokesman Doug Gordon had a curt response. "They do not," he said.