Word: mcchrystal
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...alternative simply defies realities. The all-out strategy calls for an additional 40,000 or so troops, most of whom wont be deployed in the field in less than a year; they would thus do little to protect against the near-term dangers that General Stanley McChrystal has warned of. Perhaps most fundamental, the middle way avoids the quicksand on which the counterinsurgency strategy is built: the absolute need for nation-building. Counterinsurgency strategy requires clearing and holding territory, which cannot be done without transforming a corruption-riddled, anarchic and poverty-stricken state into a functioning market democracy. That goal...
...months ago Obama called for a new strategy in Afghanistan, but the President now appears to be wavering in the wake of a report by his top commander there, General Stanley McChrystal, that says 10,000 to 40,000 more troops are needed or the mission "will likely result in failure." With his advisers split between advocating a full-scale counterinsurgency, which some Democrats say amounts to nation-building, and a more limited counterterrorism approach against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, Obama will now hold five more meetings of the National Security Council on the issue before making...
...Administration spent much of last week distancing itself from McChrystal's recommendation. "There are other assessments from very expert military analysts that have worked on counterinsurgencies that are the exact opposite," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told PBS's NewsHour. But with Centcom commander General David Petraeus and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen lining up behind McChrystal, some Republicans are accusing the President of risking the lives of the nearly 68,000 troops already in Afghanistan by "dithering," as the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, Kit Bond, put it on Fox News Sunday...
Along those lines, Republicans are expected to introduce a spate of amendments to this week's fiscal 2010 Defense Appropriations Act in the Senate. One will probably be a demand to have McChrystal testify before Congress - a move the Defense Department has so far resisted until after the Administration sets its policy. Other potential amendments include one to increase funding for troop training, an amendment expressing the sense of the Senate in support of troop increases and maybe even one expressly supporting McChrystal's recommendations. On the Democratic side, an amendment is expected, perhaps from Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold, that...
...Obama's decision will probably depend as much on politics in Afghanistan as on politics in Washington, especially given the disputed Afghan election. As President Bill Clinton said on Meet the Press: "I think that what the President has done here is not to dis [General McChrystal], but he's saying, 'Look, my responsibility is not just to win military battles, but to see that at least it's something bigger ... for ourselves and our security and for the people of Afghanistan. And I got to decide whether we got a partner there,' which means there...