According to McClatchy Newspapers Washington Bureau, President Barack Obama will dispatch some 34,000 additional troops to Afghanistan but there will be some strings attached but the exact details will be announced by the president in his December 1, 2009 speech to the nation. As it stands now the plans call for deployment over nine months with an off ramp approach ,starting next June , at this time the president will decide to continue sending troops or halt the deployment and adopt a more limited strategy. The military is glad because the president did not include a time line for withdrawal. Of course the president will have his critics on both sides but as one U.S. military official said Monday's meeting with Joe Biden, Robert Gates Hillary Clinton, Jim Jones, Ambassador Eikenberry, and senior military commanders was “decisional.”
It was just yesterday that former vice President Cheney told a talk radio host that the delays in making a decision by the president were due to his inexperience. This is coming from a man that sent us into a war of choice that had no WMD. MSNBC's military analysts said that the president was finalizing some deals with our European Allies. It is rumored that he will announce that the European Allies will be sending about 5,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. Our Allies wanted to be sure of our commitment and strategy in dealing with the corrupt Karzai government. Part of that dithering had to with the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's willingness to give Karzai another chance in cleaning up his corrupt government and his ties with the drug war lords. The administration has been working quietly behind the scenes to come up with a policy; they call “Afghanistan Compact” which is just a series of political reforms and anti corruption measures. The British government has offered to host a conference early next year to win international support for the "compact."The administration convinced our allies that we will work around the Karzai government for now and work directly with the provincial and district leaders. We understand that Great Britain is bringing up Tony Blair to question him about the information he left out leading that country into the Iraq war, so we should understand if Gordon Brown, decides to take a pass for now. The Allies will meet in Belgium on December 7th and to discuss if some other nations might contribute additional troops.
I may be wrong but I think this will be the first time that a president brought his economic adviser to sit in on a war strategy meeting. Obama said that the cost of the wars will be put in the budget but Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff said the war could cost from $700 billion up to $1 trillion dollars over 10 years- and might require a supplemental funding bill next year. That is just another campaign pledge that might not be kept or congress will have some say in the matter.
General McCrystal will be called in from Afghanistan to testify before Congress sometime late next week along with the Defense Secretary, Robert Gate, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, and Joint chief of Staff, Mike Mullen. The plan will be laid out and questions will be answered, so we can proceed to carry out this mission, right or wrong.
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where do you come up with 100 in afganistan number, The taliban should be counted with them as well. I do agree with you on pakistan being tied in with afganistan in this war. but pakistan is doing a fair job of winning now. with their help we should be able to destroy the fanatics.
December 2, 2009 at 5:06 a.m.Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday had Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona and Evan Byth Indiana to discuss the upcoming speech on Afghanistan by President Obama.. Senator Kyl said he would back the president if he gave the generals everything they asked for, without exit strategies or time lines because that would embolden the enemy. Where have I heard that before? Senator Byth tried to talk about the cost and the need to have a clear mission and refrain from an open ended commitment…. I thought the best debate came from Senators Lindsey Graham and Bernie Sanders… When George Stephanopoulos asked Lindsey Graham what he thought of Rep. David Olby’s proposal of imposing surtax as a means for paying for the war in Afghanistan; Senator Graham said we should find ways to cut other programs. Huh, like education, alternative fuels, and job initiatives? Senator Sanders came down pretty hard on Graham’s hypocritical stance on health care; because he never wavered when the past administration ran up the bills on Iraq, without paying for it.
What am I hearing coming from the Republicans? When it comes to health care reform, deficits and debt matter but when it comes to escalating a war that has been ignored for several years; we should make cuts in programs that would benefit Americans to finance the war. Senator Kyl said we should never raise taxes during in a recession. I guess it's perfectly acceptable to escalating a war during a recession. It has always been and always will be about agendas and priorities.
I will listen to the president tomorrow night but I will be a skeptic, since I know there are only about 100 Al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan and the Afghans currently have a corrupt government that is unwilling to defend their country. The president will rightly tie Pakistan and Afghanistan together, talk about the cost, and emphasize that he will finish the war but I am looking for benchmarks, time frames, and a means to pay for it.
November 30, 2009 at 11:09 a.m.Yes,I can't imagine Speaker Pelosi attacking a country that did not have WMD or anything to do with 9/11(she voted against it)....I can't imagine her cutting taxes for the wealthy (twice)while engaged in two wars..Not paying for either...Did the right wingers pull a Rip Van Winkle from year 2000-2008?
Another question,did the Bush administration seal the border(north & south) after 9/11/01?
BTW President George W. Bush left office with a 32% approval & 89% of American thought the country was headed in the wrong direction...Those that voted for President Bush, have no room to lecture anyone.
November 30, 2009 at 10:09 a.m.holly1...You'll have to look long and hard to find someone who dislikes BO more than I, but HE isn't in charge of White House security. That fiasco is in the lap of the Secret Service, not BO. Things like this happen once in a while and they are scary bcause of the possible consequenses. BO and Biden were BOTH at the dinner. If these gate crashers had been there to take out the president and veep, look at who's next in line. PELOSI! AS bad as I believe BO to be, I'd far rather have him in office that that &*%$#.
November 30, 2009 at 7:33 a.m.this admin. can't even secure the white house how do they think they can keep the USA safe!! what a joke!! president obama shook hands with the uninvited guests while standing in line to receive his guests. he can't filter out 200 guests so how does he stop illegals and terrorists from crossing the borders. just another example of the way he handles our country. he should be thankful the party crashers were not there to commit terrorism. if they were terrorists nancy pelosi would be president as we speak. thank god they were not. that would have been so bad for the country to have her royal highness running the govt.
November 30, 2009 at 7:08 a.m.Well, this presz has not made all the right decisions...he is very off beat with making and keeping America on track with traditional american values and ways...
When he said change he meant change to global allowances for the post american world
November 24, 2009 at 7:50 p.m.Ok,your point is? complaint about Iraq? got it. Afghanistan? I got it. Is there anything new?. Once you quoted MSNBC much of credibility went down the drain. It would be like me quoting FOX. McClatchy Newspapers are not what I would consider an indepedent source. The facts are that we are in Iraq and Afghanistan. The ramifications of pulling out are a lot worst than staying in. Bush is gone and this Obama's war. This is not our soldiers' war. Either we give them what they need or pull them out. People need to stop playing politics. Like the old sticker says, either stand behind the soldiers or in front them and once again, WE ARE not pulling out, that is a fact and Obama knows this. Here is a little tid bit, we know that the Taliban and Al-Qaida will slow their offensive in the next few months. I would make sense for our military to get ready for the Spring offensive now, but since we are going to play politics with soldiers' life, we will make the decision to send troops around the spring time, not giving the soldiers enough time to familiarized themselves with the terrain. Once again, is about giving the people doing the actual fighting a chance to survive. You will argue, bring them home, I would say, sure but we are not. So either all the way or nothing. And just in case, the so called NATO troops, they are nothing more than trainer. They do not want their troops to do any fighting. The only ones that actually leave the FOB would be the English. The Germans are terrified of leaving their FOB just like the french. and I dont mean the soldiers but their leaders.
November 24, 2009 at 6:07 p.m.I hope this President makes all the right decisions. Maybe just maybe he let the generals fight this war, after all that is what they get paid to do, and leave the ding politics out of it. But from what I am seeing from the White house is the LBJ plan all over again.
I want this President to bring down might of the American military, win this war, and let’s get out of that waste land.
November 24, 2009 at 6 p.m.I wonder how long it will take for the house to leak our new plans to the enemy. There are so many loose lips there that i bet it won't be a week after all these people testify before comgress and the NY TIMES will be front pageing something juicy. I'll have to hear the speech before i can comment fully on President Obama's ideas. The items released so far are scant and can be contradicting with the ideas of gen. mccrystals need with-in the year or lose report.
November 24, 2009 at 5:46 p.m.