Word: year
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...ninth year, and public support is waning. But Obama on Tuesday repeated his belief that neither al-Qaeda nor its allies can be permitted to flourish in Afghanistan. "We are going to dismantle and degrade their capabilities and ultimately dismantle and destroy their networks," he said. "It is my intention to finish the job." (See pictures of Osama Bin Laden...
...Just how much putting extra troops in Afghanistan will cost is in dispute. Orszag pegs it at $1 million per soldier per year ($30 billion annually for 30,000 more troops), which is twice as much as the Pentagon's figure. The number varies depending on how many new weapons and other materiel are cranked into the calculation. But a new study underscores the extra costs of fighting in a landlocked country where the Taliban has shut down much of the meager road network. For example, every U.S. soldier in Afghanistan requires 22 gallons of fuel...
...skeptical Americans - as well as NATO allies at a Dec. 7 meeting - that Afghan President Hamid Karzai is a solid partner in the war effort. That's a daunting task in light of allegations of corruption enveloping him, including the disputed August election that gave him a second five-year term...
Stepping back a bit, I do see a metapattern that extends over the 40 years since Richard Nixon's Southern strategy began the drift toward more ideological political parties: Democrats have tough first years in the presidency. Of the past seven Presidents, the two Bushes rank at the top in popularity after one year, while Obama and Bill Clinton rank at the bottom, with Jimmy Carter close by. There is a reason for that. Democrats come to office eager to govern the heck out of the country. They take on impossible issues, like budget-balancing and health care reform. They...
...tendency to err in the direction of respect toward other countries. This is a witting reaction to the Bush Administration's tendency to diss our allies and insult - or invade - our enemies. It is a long game, which will yield results, or not, over time. After a first year spent demonstrating a new comity, Obama has gained the global credibility to get tough - on Iran, for example - in his second year. But the real evaluation of Obama's debut must wait for the results of the two biggest problems he's tackling: his decision on Afghanistan and the congressional attempt...