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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: troop surge

troop surge stories: 126 news summaries

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Analysis

In Afghanistan Debate, Obama Focuses on Exit

White House wants
to make sure surge
will enable handover

Nov 17, 09 8:15 AM CST
(Newser) - The Obama administration’s extended ruminations on an Afghan surge aren’t really over how many troops to send in—they’re about how they’ll get those troops out. Obama’s main problem with the initial military plan was that it seemed too open ended, administration sources tell Gerald... More »

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Afghanistan • Barack Obama • troop surge • Hamid Karzai • troop levels • Afghanistan war • President Obama • Afghanistan exit strategy

US Ambassador Disagrees
on Afghan Troop Surge

Wants Karzai government to shape up first

Nov 11, 09 6:49 PM CST
(Newser) - The US ambassador to Afghanistan—a former general who served there as recently as 2007—is against increasing troop levels until the Afghan government gets its act together. In classified cables ahead of President Obama’s deliberations on a surge, Karl Eikenberry cites rampant corruption and mismanagement in Hamid Karzai’... More »

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Afghanistan • troop surge • Hamid Karzai • corruption • Afghanistan war • dissent • President Obama • Stanley McChrystal • Karl Eikenberry

CBS: Prez Will Grant McChrystal Troop Request

White House denies decision made

Nov 10, 09 5:50 AM CST
(Newser) - President Obama has decided to grant Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for a large and long-term increase in US forces in Afghanistan, according to CBS and AP , which cite "informed sources." The president will give the general almost all the troops he has asked for, boosting the size of... More »

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Afghanistan • troop surge • US military • Afghanistan war • President Obama • Stanley McChrystal

AFGHAN STRATEGY REVIEW

 Obama Eyes 30K+ Troop Surge 

Said to be close to decision as Asia trip looms

Nov 8, 09 9:18 AM CST
(Newser) - President Obama is zeroing in on an Afghanistan strategy that likely includes sending in some 30,000 troops, reports Reuters —short of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's requested 40,000, but far greater than war-weary Democrats may support. An additional 4,000 trainers are likely to be sent, McClatchy reports, with... More »

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Afghanistan • troop surge • Hamid Karzai • US troops • Afghanistan war • President Obama • Stanley McChrystal

Poll Numbers

Public Backs Afghan Troop Surge 47%-43%

....and majority support holding off on decision until after runoff

Oct 28, 09 11:21 AM CDT
(Newser) - Public support for a troop surge in Afghanistan is surging, too, according to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll . Support for a troop increase edged out opposition 47% to 43%, after trailing opposition 44% to 51% last month. But 58% also support waiting until after the runoff election to make... More »

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Afghanistan • troop surge • poll • health care reform • poll numbers • public option • Afghanistan election

POLL NUMBERS

Afghan Surge Gains Favor; Public Sours on DC

Support for public option also grows; GOP isn't more popular, though

Oct 27, 09 6:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - New poll numbers out today hold good news and bad for the Obama administration. Support is rising for a troop surge in Afghanistan, the NBC/Wall Street Journal survey finds, and nearly half now favor a public option in the health-care reform measures now under consideration. The bad news: 58% said... More »

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Iraq • troop surge • Republican Party • health care reform • Afghanistan war • opinion polls • Obama administration • NBC News/Wall Street Journal • financial crisis • President Obama • public option

 Pentagon Holds 
 Secret Afghan 
 War Games 

Mullen leads exercise to assess effects of troop surge

Oct 26, 09 6:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, led a secret war game earlier this month to assess the Obama administration's options in Afghanistan, including a 44,000-troop surge. A team of military leaders used Gen. Stanley McChrystal's analysis to examine how Taliban insurgents and the Afghan... More »

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Afghanistan • Barack Obama • war games • troop surge • Robert Gates • Joint Chiefs of Staff • Adm. Mike Mullen • counterterrorism • troop levels • Afghanistan war • Stanley McChrystal

NICHOLAS KRISTOF

More Troops in Afghanistan
= Angrier Insurgents

Doesn't US remember how our country began? Or how Vietnam ended?

Oct 22, 09 9:56 AM CDT
(Newser) - The United States was born from a nationalist insurgency. “Given that history, you’d think we might be more sensitive to nationalism abroad,” writes Nicholas Kristof. “Yet the most systematic foreign-policy mistake we Americans have made in the post-World War II period has been to underestimate its... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • Taliban • Pakistan • troop surge • US military • Pashtun • nationalism • insurgency • Nicholas Kristof

Poll Numbers

Public Thinks Obama's Clueless on Afghanistan

Deeply divided country leaves president between rock, hard place

Oct 21, 09 8:17 AM CDT
(Newser) - When it comes to the Afghan war, Barack Obama is between a rock and a hard place politically. Only 45% of the public approves of his handling of it, down 10 percentage points from last month, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, and a whopping 63% don’t... More »

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Afghanistan • Barack Obama • troop surge • troop levels • Afghanistan war • poll numbers • Stanley McChrystal

Sources: Obama Will Send 40-45K More to Afghanistan

White House denies a decision has made, but UK's move would make more sense

Oct 14, 09 9:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - President Obama will announce a troop surge in Afghanistan next week, sources tell the BBC, with Afghanistan’s ambassador to the US saying Obama will commit as many as 45,000. The White House says there’s been no decision, with spokesman Robert Gibbs sniffing that the BBC wouldn’t... More »

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Afghanistan • troop surge • BBC • Afghanistan war • Obama administration • Robert Gibbs • President Obama • Stanley McChrystal • Said Jawad

UPDATED

 Pentagon Downplays 
 13K Surge in Afghan 
 Support Troops 

Extra thousands swell US numbers in Afghanistan

Oct 13, 09 7:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - When does 21,000 equal 34,000? When the Pentagon is counting. The 21,000 additional troops President Obama approved for Afghanistan earlier this year have been accompanied by 13,000 extra support troops, bringing the total number in Afghanistan to nearly 68,000. Pentagon and White House officials have... More »

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Afghanistan • Pentagon • troop surge • Robert Gates • US military • troop levels • Afghanistan war • Stanley McChrystal

Pentagon Insiders:

 Obama Team Downplays
 Risks in Afghan Pullback

Al-Qaeda, Taliban much closer than public has been led to believe

Oct 12, 09 11:57 AM CDT
(Newser) - US military and intelligence officials see dangerous misrepresentations in the Obama team’s flirting with a limited, anti-al-Qaeda strategy in Afghanistan. “The White House is downplaying the dangers of doing the only thing that they think Congress and the public will support,” an official tells McClatchy. But taking... More »

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Afghanistan • Taliban • Pakistan • India • troop surge • US military • al-Qaeda • Obama administration • Stanley McChrystal • public opinion

Pelosi Eye Roll Hints at Dem Rift on Afghanistan

She doesn't seem to be on the same page as Reid

Oct 8, 09 10:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - It was a little thing. After Tuesday’s powwow with the president on Afghan strategy, Harry Reid emerged from the White House with Nancy Pelosi and announced: “Everyone said that ‘whatever decision you make, we will support it,’” as the House speaker rolled her eyes. Though... More »

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Nancy Pelosi • Congress • troop surge • Harry Reid • House of Representatives • Democratic Party • speaker of the House • Afghanistan war • Obama administration • Senate majority leader • President Obama

OPINION

 In Afghanistan, We 
 Fight and Die, China Wins 




In fact, Beijing comes out ahead whether we stay or go

Oct 7, 09 9:11 AM CDT
(Newser) - American and Chinese interests seem to be conveniently aligned in Afghanistan, writes Robert D. Kaplan. By securing the country, NATO forces have allowed China access to vast mineral deposits and trade routes to the Indian Ocean. In turn, Chinese companies employ Afghan workers, stabilizing the economy and hence the nation.... More »

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Afghanistan • China • Pakistan • India • troop surge • US military • empire • copper • foreign interests

No Afghanistan Withdrawal, Obama Tells Lawmakers

But still undecided
on proposed buildup

Oct 6, 09 8:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - President Obama won’t commit to sending more troops to Afghanistan, but neither will he withdraw any, he told congressional leaders in a White House meeting today that included a sharp exchange between the president and Republican Sen. John McCain. Obama wanted to “dispense with the straw man argument... More »

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John McCain • troop surge • White House • troop withdrawal • congressional Democrats • Afghanistan war • President Obama • meeting • Congressional Republicans

 Weak Afghan al-Qaeda 
 Calls Surge Into Question 

Whether Taliban will facilitate or shun terror group is up in the air

Oct 5, 09 11:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - The principal rationale for the original US invasion of Afghanistan was the elimination of an al-Qaeda safe haven. Almost a decade later, the terrorist group is much diminished there, as well as in Pakistan, prompting serious second thoughts within the administration about ramping up forces in the region. Aides to... More »

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Afghanistan • Taliban • terrorism • Pakistan • troop surge • US military • al-Qaeda • Obama administration • Richard Holbrooke • Stanley McChrystal

ANALYSIS

Petraeus Goes Quiet, for
Good or Ill

Face of Iraq surge disappears in Afghanistan debate

Oct 5, 09 6:11 AM CDT
(Newser) - By the end of George W. Bush's second term David Petraeus was the country's most famous military man, carpeting the media with interviews and pressing the flesh on Capitol Hill. The general who personified the Iraq troop surge is still around, and spoke up in strategy sessions with Barack Obama... More »

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Afghanistan • Barack Obama • troop surge • White House • David Petraeus • Rahm Emanuel • troop levels • Obama administration • Stanley McChrystal


 Afghanistan Push 
 Meets Resistance 
 —From Democrats 

Levin, Pelosi object to troop buildup; Obama weighs options

Sep 11, 09 9:14 AM CDT
(Newser) - Support for the war in Afghanistan is dwindling among Democrats as President Obama mulls increasing US involvement in the region, the New York Times reports. Ahead of an expected request for more troops from the US commander in the country, the chair of the Senate armed services committee says he’... More »

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Afghanistan • Nancy Pelosi • Congress • troop surge • Carl Levin • Afghan Army • Senate Armed Services Committee • Afghanistan war • Obama administration • President Obama

ANALYSIS

Surge May Be Only Way to Keep US Safe From al-Qaeda

Remote-controlled strikes won't be enough to stop terrorists, say experts

Sep 8, 09 5:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - The idea that al-Qaeda could be prevented from regaining a haven in Afghanistan without having American troops in the country is gaining support as the war drags on, but it's unlikely to work, many counterterrorism experts tell the New York Times. Terrorism can't be destroyed by airstrikes or Special Forces... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • Pakistan • troop surge • counterterrorism • Predator • al-Qaeda • Afghanistan war

(Newser) - America's new top commander in Afghanistan believes the country's security forces will need a much bigger upgrade than planned if President Obama's strategy is going to work, officials tell the Washington Post. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, still doing a 60-day assessment, is said to have concluded that the expansion of Afghan... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • troop surge • US military • Afghan Army • Afghanistan war • Afghan police • Stanley McChrystal

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