Obama reveals Afghanistan plan, 2011 withdrawal
Photo credit: Getty Images | Cadets listen as US President Barack Obama reveals his plan for Afghanistan at West Point in West Point on Dec. 1, 2009.
President Barack Obama
War in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON - It's President Barack Obama's war now, after he set a short deadline with a big troop surge last night to bring the mission in Afghanistan to what he called "a successful conclusion."
In a nationally televised address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Obama told a skeptical and divided American public that he has ordered 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan by next summer, making him responsible for tripling the troops there to a total of nearly 100,000.
But Obama also promised he's not making an unlimited commitment, setting a goal of starting to withdraw those American troops in July 2011, with the apparent hope he can say he is winning the war by the end of his first term.
"The review is done. And as commander-in-chief, I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan," he told an audience of cadets at West Point.
"After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home," he said. "These are the resources that we need to seize the initiative, while building the Afghan capacity that can allow for a responsible transition of our forces out of Afghanistan."
Obama left most details of his strategy to congressional hearings Wednesday. Instead, he focused on selling his strategy to the American people, his own divided party and allies abroad, noting NATO would be announcing the involvement of other countries in the surge Friday.
Obama hit key points he needed to make: The war is necessary, the strategy will hold the Afghan and Pakistani governments accountable, the war is a shared responsibility by all countries and stabilizing Pakistan is a key goal, given its size and its control of a nuclear weapon.
The president devised the politically risky and militarily untested strategy after three months of deliberations, creating a fast-track end to the lingering, nearly decade-long war left by the Bush administration.
But the timeline of the strategy brought criticism from both sides of the aisle in Congress.
Republicans criticized it as allowing the Taliban to lie low until the Americans leave, and then strike. "We must ensure that the transition of responsibilities [to Afghan forces] is based on conditions, not timetables," said a generally supportive Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Democrats doubt Obama can produce the results he needs in such a time, especially given the shaky, corrupt leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Rep. David Obey (D-Okla.) called Afghanistan a "god-awful mess" with "no good options available," but resigned himself to backing Obama.
Obama sought to put the war in context of America's overall problems, including the struggling economy and high unemployment, but said Congress must figure out a way to pay the estimated $30 billion a year for the surge.
In a speech that will define him as a commander-in-chief, Obama made a strong case for why the United States must ramp up to attack what he called "the epicenter of violent extremism" by al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan - and the need to strengthen the security, political structure and economy of both of those countries.
And he appealed to the public for the same kind of unity the country had after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, decrying the partisanship in current discourse.
"We must deny al-Qaida a safe haven," Obama said. "We must reverse the Taliban's momentum."
