Finishing the Job

Word on the street is that, after a series of nine strategic meetings with his War Council, President Obama has come to a decision on the long-awaited revised Afghanistan strategy, ending the period of deliberation. According to White House staff, the official announcement will be made on Tuesday, December 1 to be held at West Point.

The strategy would allegedly include an influx of 34,000 troops, just shy of General McChrystal's recommended 40,000. The purported mix of troops would consist of three U.S. Army brigades, totaling about 15,000 troops; a Marine brigade with about 8,000 troops; a headquarters element of about 7,000; and between 4,000 and 5,000 support troops. The troops would be dispatched throughout Afghanistan, but would be focused mainly on the southern and southeastern provinces, where much of the recent fighting has taken place.

During a joint news conference with visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Obama had this to say:

"I can tell you, as I've said before, that it is in our strategic interest, in our national security interest, to make sure that al-Qaida and its extremist allies cannot operate effectively in those areas...We are going to dismantle and degrade their capabilities, and ultimately dismantle and destroy their networks. And Afghanistan's stability is important to that process.

I've also indicated that after eight years — some of those years in which we did not have, I think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done — it is my intention to finish the job."

What is the timeline? How will we measure progress? What are the significant milestones? When do we begin drawdown of troops? On Tuesday, I would expect much more clarification on what it means to "finish the job."

http://ow.ly/FzZU

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/25/obama.afghanistan/index.html