Obama to Send More Troops, Set Timeline for Afghan Withdrawal

The deployment of the extra force will be expedited and will bring the number of U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan to about 100,000. Obama will outline a plan that includes a timetable for Afghan security forces to begin taking over from U.S. troops before the end of his first term, one of the officials said.

With the unveiling of his strategy, Obama is tying his presidency to the outcome of a war that has deteriorated since the U.S. ousted the Taliban from power eight years ago.

Obama’s televised speech from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point “is really going to prove that he owns the war,” said Karin von Hippel, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

The address comes after a months-long strategy review and will be directed at a range of listeners, including voters weary of the war, lawmakers divided over its cost in lives and money, a scandal-plagued Afghan government and a stubborn Taliban insurgency.

Obama’s speech will last about 30 to 40 minutes and will focus on a strategy to “disrupt, dismantle and destroy al-Qaeda and its extremist allies” and help prevent another 9/11-style attack, spokesman Robert Gibbs said on NBC’s “Today” show.

Afghan Takeover

The ultimate goal, Gibbs said, is to “transfer the responsibility” to Afghanistan’s security forces as they meet unspecified political and civilian benchmarks.

“This will not be nation-building,” Gibbs said. “This will not be an open-ended commitment.”

The president’s challenge is to demonstrate the U.S. is committed to defeating terrorists and stabilizing Afghanistan without creating the impression that American forces will be there forever, said Patrick Cronin, a senior director at the Center for a New American Security in Washington.

“There are multiple messages and multiple audiences,” said Cronin, who until recently ran the Pentagon’s Institute for National Strategic Studies. Obama needs “to show the American public and the Senate and the House of Representatives that we have an exit strategy, not a permanent commitment,” while simultaneously convincing Afghanistan, Pakistan and U.S. enemies “that we are willing to see this through,” he said.

Living With Decision

The new strategy ends Obama’s ability to “blame the last administration” for failings in Afghanistan, Cronin said. “Now it’s his war, and he’s going to have to live with the decision he makes about troops.”

The president may find that Republicans are more receptive to his new plan than members of his own party. Karl Rove, President George W. Bush’s deputy chief of staff, said he would be “among the first to applaud” if reports about Obama’s decision to send 30,000 more troops are correct.

“He is providing the resources that his commander said are necessary,” Rove said on the “Today” show.

The support of Republicans on the war won’t necessarily translate into backing for the president’s domestic initiatives, such as health care, according to Lawrence Jacobs, a scholar of presidential and legislative politics at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute in Minneapolis.

‘Two Presidencies’

“Barack Obama is about to experience the well-studied and common pattern of the ‘two presidencies,’ where presidents can draw support across party lines on foreign policy even while stalemated on domestic policy,” Jacobs said.

Along with boosting U.S. forces, Obama has asked allies to provide 10,000 more troops for the Afghan campaign, including 1,500 from France, 2,000 from Germany, 1,500 from Italy and 1,000 from Britain, Le Monde reported today, citing an aide to French President Nicolas Sarkozy. France may grant the request but wants its extra troops to focus on training Afghan forces, the newspaper said.

Obama ordered his new strategy into effect on Nov. 29 and has been explaining the plan to allied leaders, including Sarkozy and U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He’s scheduled to brief members of Congress from both parties today at the White House before leaving for West Point.

“He has a fairly heavy lift,” said Representative Brian Baird, a Washington state Democrat who visited Afghanistan earlier this month. “He has to persuade lawmakers that it’s a government worth backing, that it’s a mission capable of succeeding and that Pakistan is viable partner,” Baird said. “And then he has to somehow pay for it.”

Public Divided

The U.S. public is divided. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted Nov. 13-15 showed that 50 percent of Americans would support sending an additional 34,000 troops to Afghanistan and 49 percent would be opposed. The U.S. now has a force of about 69,000, with about 36,000 troops from allied nations.

Some Democratic leaders, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin of Michigan and Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry of Massachusetts, have questioned an increased military commitment.

Republicans, including Arizona Senator John McCain, his party’s senior member on the Armed Services panel, have said telegraphing an intention to withdraw from Afghanistan would let the Taliban and al-Qaeda solidify their presence in areas where the U.S. is drawing down.

Hard Sell

“He has to convey the fact that his strategy is not an open-ended one for an indefinite war,” said Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter. “In different ways he’s going to have a hard sell with both Republicans and Democrats, simply because the country is in a kind of state of unease.”

U.S. allies face their own political pressures about the war and will look to Obama’s speech to underscore a durable American commitment before sending additional troops of their own, said Brian Katulis, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington.

“He’s going to need to give our European friends a boost and motivation to do more,” Katulis said.

October was the deadliest month for U.S. forces since the fighting began, with 59 military personnel dead from combat and accidents, according to Defense Department figures.

Obama took office pledging to shift resources from Iraq to the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. He ordered an additional 17,000 combat troops and 4,000 trainers to Afghanistan earlier this year. In June, he installed General Stanley McChrystal as his top commander and charged him with reviewing NATO’s prospects for victory.

Strategy Review

Obama’s strategy was devised during a series of White House Situation Room meetings with foreign policy and military advisers after McChrystal submitted a request for additional troops.

Obama has said he wants to set benchmarks to measure improvements in Afghanistan’s military and government and lay out a path toward an end to the U.S. engagement.

Some of Obama’s more skeptical listeners may be Democrats. House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey of Wisconsin is suggesting a tax on the wealthy to pay for the war. Each soldier added to the force would cost about $1 million a year, according to the Office of Management and Budget.
Click here to read the full story.