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Obama boosts troops in Afghanistan with exit plan

Air Force Techincal Sgt. Phllip M. Huaser from Salina, Kansas, assigned to the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device(CIED) route clearance unit wears a silver Mjolnir, the Viking God Thor's hammer as he guards Highway One near the town of Maidan Shar, Wardak province, Afghanistan Monday Nov. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

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US Army soldiers assigned to the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device(CIED) route clearance unit, pull security under a destroyed bridge while waiting for the arrival of a team of army engineers that will place a temporary bridge after insurgents detonated a large explosive device under the bridge, near the town of Maidan Shar, Wardak province, Afghanistan Monday Nov. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

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A soldier from Golf Battery 4th 317 stands atop a vehicle as they prepare to go out on night patrol at Forward Operating Base Airborne, near the town of Maidan Shar, Wardak province, Afghanistan Tuesday Dec. 1, 2009. In the next hours, President Obama will outline his Afghan war strategy speech at the West Point military academy.(AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

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President Barack Obama boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., as he travels to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009, to speak about the war in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

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By STEVEN R. HURST, The Associated Press Updated 11:54 PM Tuesday, December 1, 2009

WEST POINT, N.Y. — Declaring "our security is at stake," President Barack Obama ordered an additional 30,000 U.S. troops into the long war in Afghanistan on Tuesday night, nearly tripling the force he inherited but promising an impatient public to begin withdrawal in 18 months.

The buildup will begin almost immediately — the first Marines will be in place by Christmas — and will cost $30 billion for the first year alone.

In a prime-time speech at the U.S. Military Academy, the president told the nation his new policy was designed to "bring this war to a successful conclusion," though he made no mention of defeating Taliban insurgents or capturing al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

"We must deny al-Qaida a safe haven," Obama said in spelling out U.S. military goals for a war that has dragged on for eight years. "We must reverse the Taliban's momentum. ... And we must strengthen the capacity of Afghanistan's security forces and government."

The president said the additional forces would be deployed at "the fastest pace possible so that they can target the insurgency and secure key population centers."

Their destination: "the epicenter of the violent extremism practiced by al-Qaida."

"It is from here that we were attacked on 9/11, and it is from here that new attacks are being plotted as I speak," the president said.

It marked the second time in his young presidency that Obama has added to the American force in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has recently made significant advances. When he became president last January, there were roughly 34,000 troops on the ground; there now are 71,000.

After the speech, cadets in the audience — some of whom could end up in combat because of Obama's decision — climbed over chairs to shake hands with their commander in chief and take his picture.

Obama's announcement drew less-wholehearted support from congressional Democrats. Many of them favor a quick withdrawal, but others have already proposed higher taxes to pay for the fighting.

Republicans reacted warily, as well. Officials said Sen. John McCain, who was Obama's Republican opponent in last year's presidential campaign, told Obama at an early evening meeting attended by numerous lawmakers that declaring a timetable for a withdrawal would merely send the Taliban underground until the Americans began to leave.

As a candidate, Obama called Afghanistan a war worth fighting, as opposed to Iraq, a conflict he opposed and has since begun easing out of.

A new survey by the Gallup organization, released Tuesday, showed only 35 percent of Americans now approve of Obama's handling of the war; 55 percent disapprove.

He made no direct reference to public opinion Tuesday night, although he seemed to touch on it when he said, "The American people are understandably focused on rebuilding our economy and putting people to work here at home."

"After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home," he said flatly.

In eight years of war, 849 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan, Pakistan and neighboring Uzbekistan, according to the Pentagon.

In addition to beefing up the U.S. presence, Obama has asked NATO allies to commit between 5,000 and 10,000additional troops. The war has even less support in Europe than in the United States, and the NATO allies and other countries currently have about 40,000 troops on the ground.

He said he was counting on Afghanistan eventually taking over its own security, and he warned, "The days of providing a blank check are over." He said the United States would support Afghan ministries that combat corruption and "deliver for the people. We expect those who are ineffective or corrupt to be held accountable."

As for neighboring Pakistan, the president said that country and the United States "share a common enemy" in Islamic terrorists. "We are in Afghanistan to prevent a cancer from once again spreading through that country. 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."

The speech before an audience of cadets at the military academy ended a three-month review of the war, triggered by a request from the commanding general, Stanley McChrystal, for as many as 40,000 more troops. Without them, he warned, the U.S. risked failure.

The speech was still under way when the general issued a statement from Kabul. "The Afghanistan-Pakistan review led by the president has provided me with a clear military mission and the resources to accomplish our task," it said. McChrystal is expected to testify before congressional committees in the next several days.

Obama referred to a deteriorating military environment, but said, "Afghanistan is not lost."

The length of the presidential review drew mild rebukes from normally amiable NATO allies. There was sharper criticism from Republicans led by former Vice President Dick Cheney, who said the president was dithering rather than deciding.

Obama rebutted forcefully.

"Let me be clear: There has never been an option before me thatcalled for troop deployments before 2010, so there has been no delay or denial of resources necessary for the conduct of the war," he told his audience of more than 4,000 cadets seated in Eisenhower Hall.

Most of the new forces will be combat troops. Military officials said the Army brigades were most likely to be sent from Fort Drum in New York and Fort Campbell in Kentucky; and Marines primarily from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

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..your dad should have also told you...if they BRAG about it...they didn't do it. Lejeune is just some liberal spinning it to look like the military are a bunch of SS soldiers. Noone is killing 12 year olds in Iraq in the US Marine corp or Army. Lejeune, you liberal pukes will stoop to any level to achieve your goals won't you...........

hey defense czar
9:50 PM, 12/2/2009

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I had to laugh when the Victoria's Secret special
came on after the president's speech. Someone with a great sense of humor planned them airing on the same night. The symbolism is utterly hysterical.

earl
6:57 PM, 12/2/2009

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"9/11 was a bad dream and you are basically advocating isolatism and let the despots keep the world in balance."

Sorry Mr. Bleedingheart but the world is full of bad people and we can't always hold the high ground and not deal with bad people. I am an advocate of isolationism. I don't think we should be spending billions of dollars making Iraq and Afghanistan safer. It doesn't do anything for US. Ask yourself this TRS: why didn't 9/11 happen to Russia or China? Hmmm..I wonder.

Really?
2:59 PM, 12/2/2009

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Interesting to notice that Obozo doesn’t even mention that killing or capturing Bin Laden is an objective of his war strategy in Afghanistan.
As recently as October 7, 2008 Obama said: “We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority.”
Now that he’s got the job, I suppose its best to keep the expectations low so that its not so obvious that he failed. Kind of like Saving or Creating Jobs. What a lying jack off.

Bob
2:57 PM, 12/2/2009

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TRS-
There is no connection between Saddam Hussein and radical fundamentalism. You are either naive on this issue or you have your head in the sand. We and the rest of the west supported Iraq with billions of dollars and a large amount of weaponry during the 1980s war with Iran precisely because they were seen as a secular counter balance to fundamentalist islam.

Did Saddam up and suddenly shift and have a born again moment? Again, you have not answered: where is the benefit?

Really?
2:52 PM, 12/2/2009

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