Posted on 03/27/2009 6:31:24 AM PDT by Nutmeg08
Time running out on Afghanistan, US fears
White House concerned it only has a year to turn around Afghanistan and Pakistan before US public support wanes
* Simon Tisdall and Ewen MacAskill * guardian.co.uk, Thursday 26 March 2009 20.17 GMT
A US counter-intelligence Marine and his translator meet with local villagers in Kirta, Afghanistan
A US counter-intelligence marine and his translator meet with local villagers in Kirta, Afghanistan Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images
The Obama administration believes it has only a small window of opportunity, possibly just a year, to turn around the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan before US public support begins to erode, diplomatic and military officials say.
President Barack Obama briefed members of Congress yesterday before the unveiling of his new policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan today.
Among the proposals is a plan to send 4,000 more US troops to Afghanistan - in addition to the 17,000 combat troops he ordered last month - to train the Afghan army. Instead of creating a national army, they will focus instead on the more modest goal of trying to turn ragtag militia groups into forces capable of providing protection against the Taliban and al-Qaida.
More emphasis is to be given to civilian projects, with the US to double its civilian contingent in the country to 900 to provide help with agriculture projects, small businesses and setting up a rudimentary judicial service.
An official said yesterday that Obama's planners thought they had about 12 months to show measurable progress in Afghanistan before public support would wane and the policy turn into a Democratic-Republican political issue.
The planners fear the war could become an election issue as the mid-term Congressional elections in November next year draw near, and that Congress might be reluctant to fund the strategy.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Obama knows his ultra-leftist (I’m being kind in the use of that term) will not sit well with the American people. Already there is a growing sense of his extremist views and his falling poll numbers show it.
However he is not above gambling the lives of American military in the vain hope of salvaging his presidency by capturing and/or killing Osama Bin Laden. This, the papers will proclaim, is something GWB didn’t do. Yes, on that sad day, the Zero will be the eternal hero in the WOT.
Welcome to my nightmare.
You heard it here first.
Obambi on TV again right now!
The man loves makeup.
Is Teleprompter ver. 1 back?
The O is bobble-heading back and forth at the morning news conference.
Yes, and he seems to be getting more purple every day. (Maybe it’s my TV.)
Do we stop supporting our troops and hoping for their missions to be successful when we dislike the commander-in-chief? I don’t think conservatives should have the same attitude towards the war in Afghanistan under Obama that Democrats had toward Iraq under Bush.
Yes, bo is back to using the teleprompter. And hillary’s head bobbing in the background.
Back and forth... up and down....
dang!!
Wow to listen to him, you would never know that Al queda killed 3000 + Americans. All I hear is about “POCK E STON”.
The O asks Congress to approve $1.5 Billion to Pakistan, yearly, for the next 5 years.
Violent extremists = terrorists. Dontcha love the newspeak of this administration?
sw
Sounds like The O is wanting to do some nation-building in Afghanistan.
Umm. what about our problem with the drug trade & OUR border???
New deployment of 17,000 troops to function in SE (nowhere near Tora Bora).
He is following the early sixties VN model of training and advising.
"Dramatic increase in our civilian effort"...Who? Blackwater? State Department? Wackenhut?
sw
Freepers are finally realizing that you can support the troops but not the mission.
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