Obama Backpedals On Afghan Troop Surge
We may soon witness a reverse triple back flip with pike by the Obama administration over his campaign promise of increasing troop numbers in Afghanistan.
Despite Obama's pledge to undertake an initial surge of a further 17,000 troops (and a possible 17,000 more late in 2009) into the war-turned-quagmire, the increase has little domestic support inside the US. Importantly and tellingly, a troop increase is also being questioned at the highest levels of the administration.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has cited a need for "reassessment" as the reason for the delay in deployment, and this is not a lily-livered cop out. Reassessment is much needed, as a chorus of military strategists and analysts are questioning whether a surge will work in Afghanistan as it did in Iraq.
With a raft of strategy reviews, new advisors and a driven, head strong and brilliant Special Envoy in Richard Holbrooke, it looks like there are going to be many cooks in this messy kitchen.
Also in the mix are formal recommendations from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House National Security Council and General David Petraeus of Central Command.
The new orthodoxy seems to be giving up on the notion of democracy-by-force (always a recipe for disaster) and aiming instead for regional security in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Despite Obama's pledge to undertake an initial surge of a further 17,000 troops (and a possible 17,000 more late in 2009) into the war-turned-quagmire, the increase has little domestic support inside the US. Importantly and tellingly, a troop increase is also being questioned at the highest levels of the administration.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has cited a need for "reassessment" as the reason for the delay in deployment, and this is not a lily-livered cop out. Reassessment is much needed, as a chorus of military strategists and analysts are questioning whether a surge will work in Afghanistan as it did in Iraq.
With a raft of strategy reviews, new advisors and a driven, head strong and brilliant Special Envoy in Richard Holbrooke, it looks like there are going to be many cooks in this messy kitchen.
Also in the mix are formal recommendations from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House National Security Council and General David Petraeus of Central Command.
The new orthodoxy seems to be giving up on the notion of democracy-by-force (always a recipe for disaster) and aiming instead for regional security in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
posted by temporal at 2/08/2009
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