Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Obama Making His Own Afghanistan Strategy Decision

Updated Tuesday February 17, 2009 at 3:20 PM

This afternoon, the White House released a statement by President Obama announcing the deployment of additional troops to Afghanistan. Noting that the “situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan demands urgent attention and swift action,” Obama said that he “approved a request from Secretary Gates to deploy a Marine Expeditionary Brigade later this spring and an Army Stryker Brigade and the enabling forces necessary to support them later this summer.”

Originally posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 at 12:21 PM

President Obama is refusing to rush his decision to send more troops into combat before his own advisers have completed a review of Afghanistan strategy. Pres. Obama's strategy will likely result in far-reaching changes in how U.S. and NATO forces are deployed in the future. The request for an additional three Army combat brigades and Marine units, totaling over 10,000 troops from Gen. David McKiernan, the senior commander in Afghanistan and is supported by the Pentagon.

President Obama's methodical decision-making offers an early insight into how the new commander in chief will approach the war in Afghanistan and has surprised some Pentagon officials, who had repeatedly predicted that Obama would decide within days of taking office on additional forces, only to find the White House taking time to think through the strategy decision.

Listen to this article on Obama making his own Afghanistan strategy decision


Raw Story - The White House on Monday promised that President Barack Obama would "shortly" make a decision on whether to pour thousands more US troops into the Afghan war. Spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters aboard Air Force One, as Obama returned to Washington from a weekend in Chicago, that the decision was still expected soon. ". . .without getting into broad time lines, I don't think this is anything that involves weeks," Gibbs said.

PhotoWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus said on Wednesday that negotiations with some members of the Taliban could provide a way to reduce violence in sections of Afghanistan gripped by an intensifying insurgency.

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