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Obama Challenges Troop Surge in Afghanistan

Asks for clear strategy before sending more troops

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 8, 2009 6:52 AM CST
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(Newser) – President Obama has called for a review of the planned deployment of up to 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, a nation that some fear will become his “Vietnam,” the Times of London reports. Some 17,000 more troops were poised to head there last week, but defense secretary Robert Gates held them back at the last minute when Obama failed to receive clear answers from defense leaders about strategy specifics.

“Obama is exactly right. Before he agrees to send 30,000 troops, he wants to know what the mission and the endgame is,” said a defense expert. A surge would focus on fighting militants, with NATO allies and civilians shouldering reconstruction and nation-building duties, the Times notes.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates testifies before the House Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington last month.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates testifies before the House Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington last month.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
President Barack Obama walks with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates during a visit to the Pentagon last month.
President Barack Obama walks with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates during a visit to the Pentagon last month.   (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
President Barack Obama talks with reporters during a visit to the Pentagon last month.
President Barack Obama talks with reporters during a visit to the Pentagon last month.   (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 6 comments
Caps
Feb 10, 2009 1:09 AM CST
Oh BrianH, give us a break............
Guest
Feb 9, 2009 8:19 PM CST
Obonobo is a fugtard. He's trying to weasel out and hang it on Gates. He needs to be disqualified and unseated ASAP, or America will rue the day he got elected.
justme
Feb 9, 2009 2:08 AM CST
I'm afraid that Iraq is not even close to comparable to Afghanistan. Afghanistan has been a non-country since it's inception. It is a sparse land of small and scattered tribes with no loyalty except to themselves. All battles fought there over the centuries have been by outsiders against outsiders with the natives tribes in the middle.

Working toward a clearer strategy
CNN

'Obama's Vietnam'
Newsweek

'Still figuring out' what we're doing in Afghanistan
Slate

 
Afghanistan • Pentagon • military strategy • troop surge • Joint Chiefs of Staff • US military • Afghanistan war • President Obama

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