WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan over six months, an accelerated timetable — with an endgame built in — that would have the first Marines there as early as Christmas, a senior administration official told The Associated Press.
With the full complement of new troops expected to be in Afghanistan by next summer, the heightened pace of Obama’s military deployment in the 8-year-old war appears to mimic the 2007 troop surge in Iraq, a 20,000-strong force addition under former President George W. Bush. Similar in strategy to that mission, Obama’s Afghan surge aims to reverse gains by Taliban insurgents and to secure population centers in the volatile south and east parts of the country.
In a prime-time speech to the nation Tuesday night from West Point that ends a 92-day review, Obama will seek to help sell his much bigger, costlier war plan by tying the escalation to an exit strategy, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity. With U.S. casualties in Afghanistan sharply increasing and little sign of progress, the war Obama once liked to call one “of necessity,” not choice, has grown less popular with the public and within his own Democratic party. In recent days, leading Democrats have talked of setting tough conditions on deeper U.S. involvement, or even staging outright opposition. The 30,000 new U.S. troops will bring the total in Afghanistan to more than 100,000 U.S. forces by next summer. New infusions of U.S. Marines will begin moving into Afghanistan almost as soon as Obama announces a redrawn battle strategy.
I voted for Obama and had high hopes that he would be the opposite of George Bush, and now I find myself hating him just as much as I did George Bush!!
In the last 400 years, how many invasions have yielded the desired outcome (long term)?
Excellent
I’ll be looking forward to the quick and safe return of our Dutch troops then.
Thank you “Mr Peace Prize Winner’
1. Yes, the destruction of the building towers, passenger jets and thousands of people in the USA by terrorists kind of gives you a little thrill, doesn’t it?
RBG
How’s the Nobel Prize Committee feeling now?
But not to worry, Obama just announced that the terrorists just need to hang on for another three years and they get to do it all over again.
RBG
#4. Yeah, get those damn towelheads. Those Afghanis, or was it Iraqi’s, or the damn Iranians….WAIT! It was the Saudis….
You really are a moron.
If only there was some way to get to Obama and free him from the CIA mind control that has so obviously taken over the Messiah of Change.
RBG
Finally!!! An American President that will do the job that was started 8 years ago.
What most wing nuts don’t realize, Afghanistan was at one time the model of democracy in the East. The proximity to the USSR and communist influence has ruined what was once a very free and prosperous nation.
Let’s hope the “warlords” can be eliminated and peace again brought to the Afghans.
#9. Wow, Mr. Fusion as chickenhawk…now I know I’ve seen everything.
Pathetic.
CHANGE!
War President to Marines: Get Thee to Iraq, By Christmas!
He’s sending 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, not to Iraq. Four out of five Americans don’t know one country from another in the Middle East. I guess it’s not surprising that someone who pleaded with Apple to drop the iPhone (to avoid a major product failure) would know where our troops are being sent. And even if you don’t know things like countries and such, that shouldn’t prevent you from adopting your typical know-it-all stance.
After eight years of dithering Obama is a man with a plan. Let’s see if standing up to a corrupt nacotocracy will work in this crazy world. If not, we’ll always have Iran. (That’s another country in the area, you can look it up).
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Given the complete mess that the previous occupant of the White House left behind, Obama is doing a pretty darn good job.
Let’s face it, when Bush left office the USA was basically a complete mess, and Obama will have to spend most of his first term just putting out fires, the utter failure in Afghanistan being just one of them.
Like I said, damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Once again, the true meaning of “USMC” is revealed:
U Suckas Missed Christmas.
But in all sincerity, I wish our Marines the best. May you all return home safely and soon.
7. LHO. The offending terrorist organization consists of radical Muslims from various countries (#2 = Ayman al-Zawahiri of Egypt) – including Saudis – all sheltered by the ruling Taliban of Afghanistan. Bin Laden was expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1991 because of his anti-government activities. And now you know… the rest of the story.
I doubt the NY dead care much about the citizenship documents terrorists carry. Sorry to make you think.
RBG
13 Awake. Yes, such a complete mess is why Messiah of Change Obama has chosen to employ Bush’s Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Try something else.
RBG
#7 LHO
“Yeah, get those damn towelheads. Those Afghanis, or was it Iraqi’s, or the damn Iranians….WAIT! It was the Saudis….”
Actually the Taliban (in Afghanistan letting the Saudis, Egyptians, etc train there) were given the change to hand over Osama bin Laden before we invaded. They didn’t, so guess what happen.
We’ve killed or captured the people responsible for 9/11 and slapped the Taliban around enough for their role in hiding them after the fact. This is just a war to make money and control energy. We need to finally embrace peacetime and take our foot off the pedal of the war machine that has been running this nation since the end of WW2.
So Obama’s “exit strategy” will be the same as Bush’s was in Iraq – we’ll leave when the Afghanistan is secure and the government is able to take over providing its own security – with the only difference being, success or not, we’re pulling out before his term ends?
#17. Guess what, OBL has never been charged with anything…what say you to that?
What’s funny is that the very people obstructing him are the same who complain he’s not doing anything. Obama has always said that we must finish what we began in Afganistan, and that the Iraq war was a stupid diversion.
during the campaign Obama said many times that Afghanistan required more troops and attention. love it or hate it keeping to your word on big issues after the election should be seen as a good thing in politics.
glad it was not my job to be the decider on this one
lets all HOPE for the best
Great comments from the left who understand the complexity of the situation. Not so much from the right who are merely opening their pecan pie hole to undermine a very difficult decision.
Clearly, the decision to finish and successfully exit the shithole the Cheney administration created is no easy task.
We are fortuneate to have a clear thinker and leader with a plan under control.
Hey Dallas, Fusion…ever served in the military? Yeah, I didnt think so. Go ahead enjoy this while others fight for your right to open your piehole.
The chickenhawk left has come out to play…….
LMAO.
#20 LHO
Yes he has. In 1998 Libya issues an Interpol warrant on him.
“Osama bin Laden was first indicted by the United States on 8 June 1998, when a grand jury indicted Osama bin Laden on charges of killing five Americans and two Indians in the 14 November 1995 truck bombing of a US-operated Saudi National Guard training center in Riyadh.”
I think that’s a charge.
#23-Dallas-We are fortuneate to have a clear thinker and leader with a plan under control.
You can remove your lips from Obama’s butt at any time… oh wait, that’s not his butt.
RBG, a direct challenge to you.
Aside from the possibility of every rich country legalizing opium/heroin, how is Afghanistan going to fund sustainable development?
No sea access. Bordered by Iran and Pakistan(the two oppositional ends of the bonkers Islamic spectrum), and the Central-Asian “Stans”(who are either ineffectual or more interested in wasting money derived from resources). No education apart from warring.
If we are going to send our people there then how will Afghanistan be improved when we leave?
Keep in mind that maintaining a strike capability can be done MUCH more cheaply.
Fusion gets it and it wold be nice if Afghanistan were the way it was before all the wars. A peaceful country with lots of beautiful countryside to wander.
#24, #26. I don’t see substance or facts in your response but rather personal and hurtful attacks. Very offended and saddened by this.
It’s fair to assume you plea no contest to the stated facts and difficult situation that President Obama is facing.
Conservatives seem to revert to personal attacks when cornered with opposing facts and educated conclusions. Bill O’Reilly tactics have really worsened the situation. Very sad.
I don’t blame anyone for voting for Obama, the choices we were faced with in the last election were just pitiful. What I do take issue with is people who will stand behind a President even if he is making the wrong decisions. This is not a football game, this is life and death. We are talking about innocent civilians as well as our own servicemen and women. And for what? For those who want to believe this is about 9/11, fine, but you are fooling yourselves and you will never ever get your pound of flesh.
It needs to end.