President Obama's Afghan Troops Surge (And Draw Down) Roadmap

[Cactus]

President Obama's Afghan Troops Surge (And Draw Down) Roadmap

WASHINGTON — President Obama announced Tuesday night that he will begin to draw American forces out of Afghanistan in July 2011, even after sending some 30,000 more United States troops there by mid-2010 because “it is in our vital national interest” to reverse the momentum of Taliban insurgents.

“Afghanistan is not lost, but for several years it has moved backwards,” the president said in his address. “The status quo is not sustainable,” he said, blaming some of the problems on the war in Iraq, which he said had sapped America’s resources for several years.
...
“We are in Afghanistan to prevent a cancer from once again spreading through the country,” he said. “But this same cancer has also taken root in the border region of Pakistan. That is why we need a strategy that works on both sides of the border.”
...
Mr. McCain, the senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, told reporters on Capitol Hill. “The way that you win wars is to break the enemy’s will, not to announce dates that you are leaving.”
...
President Obama is trying to avoid what would be a political nightmare: being forced to concentrate on a faraway and increasingly unpopular war while trying to marshal support for his domestic goals, notably an overhaul of the health care system.
...
At the same time the president’s strategy calls for “carving away at the bottom” of the Taliban’s force structure by reintegrating less committed members into tribes and offering them paid jobs in local and national military forces.
...
Mr. Obama has sought to narrow America’s mission.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/wo...2prexy.html?hp

Nothing new, but it becoming official.

[troung]

17:35 December 1st, 2009
Obama uses V-word in Afghan speech, and we don’t mean victory
Post a comment
Posted by: Tabassum Zakaria
Tags: Front Row Washington, Afghan strategy, Afghanistan war, American troops, Barack Obama, Bruce Riedel, Vietnam quagmire, Vietnam War, West Point cadets

President Barack Obama uttered it four times in his speech at West Point about the way forward in Afghanistan.

It was the V-word that is often linked with the Q-word that conjures up the ghost of a past war that still is a raw wound in the American psyche.

USA/Obama charged head-on to try and address one of the key fears for Americans about continued involvement in an overseas war by saying that Vietnam, often described as a quagmire, was not Afghanistan.

Invoking Vietnam is usually avoided when trying to make the case for war. But apparently Obama believed saying it out loud would help convince the American public of the need to send 30,000 more troops to a war that has lasted eight years.

Obama addressed critics who suggest Afghanistan is another Vietnam and that the United States should cut its losses and rapidly withdraw. “I believe this argument depends on a false reading of history,” he said.

And he gave the following reasons for why the two wars are not alike:

“Unlike Vietnam, we are joined by a broad coalition of 43 nations that recognizes the legitimacy of our action.

Unlike Vietnam, we are not facing a broad-based popular insurgency.

And most importantly, unlike Vietnam, the American people were viciously attacked from Afghanistan, and remain a target for those same extremists who are plotting along its border.” AFGHANISTAN-USA/

Obama gave a timetable for starting the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in July 2011, but with a caveat that he would be “taking into account conditions on the ground” (a phrase his predecessor President George W. Bush often used in referring to withdrawing troops from Iraq).

That appeared to leave the door wide open for adjusting the timetable when the time is up.

Former CIA analyst Bruce Riedel also used the V and Q words in talking about Obama’s strategy.

“This is a very bold gamble by the president. It is a bold gamble first of all in terms of Afghanistan where we are in a very difficult situation. This president inherits a quagmire,” he said.

“It is also a bold gamble in terms of American domestic politics. His own party is increasingly divided over this war. His liberal, Democratic base is increasingly tired of it and his own party is haunted by the ghost of Vietnam right now,” Riedel said.

“Wars tend to consume presidencies and this is now Obama’s war.”

Did Obama convince you that Afghanistan will not be his Vietnam?

Click here for more Reuters political coverage

Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Obama speaks to cadets at West Point)

[Rumrunner]

That 3-year timeframe isnt worth the paper its written on. Nothing short of the invasion of Pakistan and restoring oversight and order to the Tribal areas is going to stop A-Stan, P-Stan and the rest of that area from being a violent mess.

[zara]

I think the 3 year time frame is more to scare Karzai. If Afghanistans still ****ed in 3 years theres no way hell withdraw.

[S2]

Dancing Around the Elephant

"...restoring oversight and order to the Tribal areas is going to stop A-Stan, P-Stan and the rest of that area from being a violent mess."

Only one comment caught my attention aside from the target date of July 2011 (a domestic political consideration IMV)-

"We will strengthen Pakistan’s capacity to target those groups that threaten our countries, and have made it clear that we cannot tolerate a safe-haven for terrorists whose location is known, and whose intentions are clear."

Is there any doubt that the POTUS believes that the enemies of Afghanistan are harbored on Pakistani soil? Does any here question that Pakistan's OWN CITIZENS like Hafez Gul Bahadur and Maulvi Nazir make war on Afghanistan from Pakistan? After reading David Rohde's accounts of being chauffeured about N. WAZIRISTAN by Haqqani's very own son that his network doesn't reside in Miran Shah? Hekmatyar? Omar?

I guarantee that nearly ALL Pakistanis will deny such to your face while applauding these same men behind your back.

I've been told by Pakistanis that it was our fault that OBL escaped into Pakistan. I concur. However, having said that, who's fault is it that he's since resided there for nearly eight years? Or the myriad others?

[zara]

Is there any way NATO could entice the Pakistanis to allow their troops to take the war to Waziristan?Anything that Pakistan wants that is within the wests power to give?

[S2]

Zara Reply

"Anything that Pakistan wants that is within the wests power to give?"

Yes. They want a taliban government back in power and would be achieved were we to withdraw with Afghanistan unable to defend itself from an externally-directed insurgency that's harbored on Pakistani lands.

All we have to do is precipitously pull out.

How dramatically must the trend lines be reversed by July 2011 to justify our withdrawal? How long to do so? What remains following such? Anything at all?

[Roosveltrepub]

"...restoring oversight and order to the Tribal areas is going to stop A-Stan, P-Stan and the rest of that area from being a violent mess."

Only one comment caught my attention aside from the target date of July 2011 (a domestic political consideration IMV)-

"We will strengthen Pakistan’s capacity to target those groups that threaten our countries, and have made it clear that we cannot tolerate a safe-haven for terrorists whose location is known, and whose intentions are clear."

Is there any doubt that the POTUS believes that the enemies of Afghanistan are harbored on Pakistani soil? Does any here question that Pakistan's OWN CITIZENS like Hafez Gul Bahadur and Maulvi Nazir make war on Afghanistan from Pakistan? After reading David Rohde's accounts of being chauffeured about N. WAZIRISTAN by Haqqani's very own son that his network doesn't reside in Miran Shah? Hekmatyar? Omar?

I guarantee that nearly ALL Pakistanis will deny such to your face while applauding these same men behind your back.

I've been told by Pakistanis that it was our fault that OBL escaped into Pakistan. I concur. However, having said that, who's fault is it that he's since resided there for nearly eight years? Or the myriad others?

Today's headline NYTimes [quote] Between the lines, an expansion in Pakistan
President quietly authorizes action against al Qaeda, Taliban militants [quote]

As to the three year deadline. Our type of goverment makes it very difficult to maintain public support for a war over 10 or 15 years. I think this is already the longest armed conflict we've been in beside the filopino war.

[zara]

Why would they want the Taliban back? Surely a stable Afghanistan would mean they could focus on India and Kashmir instead of executing a near civil war...

[S2]

Zara Reply

"Why would they want the Taliban back?"

Did you know that only three governments recognized the taliban gov't of Afghanistan as legitimate-U.A.E., K.S.A., and Pakistan?

If not, you've a lot to learn about this war. If so, then you miss the obvious implication of my earlier comment.

[zara]

"Why would they want the Taliban back?"

Did you know that only three governments recognized the taliban gov't of Afghanistan as legitimate-U.A.E., K.S.A., and Pakistan?

If not, you've a lot to learn about this war. If so, then you miss the obvious implication of my earlier comment.

Im not disagreeing with you... Id just like to know what Pakistan stands to gain from having the Taliban back.

Yes, I have a lot to learn about the war... Thats why im asking questions ... didn't think it would be a problem

[S2]

Zara Reply

"Thats why im asking questions ... didn't think it would be a problem..."

It isn't and I apologize for my abruptness. OTOH, answering these questions are time-consuming and there are numerous papers that can be easily researched, are better written, and more authoritative in their assertions from which you'd benefit. Reviewing the threads on this specific board will provide a myriad of reading sources on these related topics, as example.

Have you done that yet?

Start there unless somebody here wishes to provide a comprehensive backdrop to this war that will satisfy your needs. I can't...now.

Thanks.

[ghatotkacha]

Im not disagreeing with you... Id just like to know what Pakistan stands to gain from having the Taliban back.

Yes, I have a lot to learn about the war... Thats why im asking questions ... didn't think it would be a problem

2 things ... Strategic Depth vs India and a friendly government in Afghanistan which does not bring up the issue of the Durand Line

[Hindu_Infidel]

Hmm.. Pakistan always thought the americans would leave afghanistan eventually and the pakistani's would go back in and put the muslims there in place. This obama policy must have angered them furiously.

Though obama's policy is flawed in reality. The key to understand the regions problem is to understand what the pakistani's elite aspire. They believe they are the superior one's who should control the whole of south asia. To understand them you need to understand what they did to the bangladeshi muslims circa 1971 who tried to stand up to west pakistan.

[Mihais]

[B]

Only one comment caught my attention aside from the target date of July 2011 (a domestic political consideration IMV)-
[

Victory parade on 9/11/2011?