Left-leaning McClatchy Newspapers cites “U.S. officials” in reporting that failed President Barack Obama plans to add 34,000 to the forces currently deployed in Afghanistan while announcing a plan for withdraw from the war.
The President will announce the latest “new strategy” next week. He called for a counterinsurgency two years ago, announced the old “new strategy” in March, tasked his hand-picked General Stanley McChrystal to develop the plan in June and received McChrystal’s recommendation for 40,000 new troops in August. December starts next Tuesday.
President Barack Obama met Monday evening with his national security team to finalize a plan to dispatch some 34,000 additional U.S. troops over the next year to what he’s called “a war of necessity” in Afghanistan, U.S. officials told McClatchy.
Obama is expected to announce his long-awaited decision on Dec. 1, followed by meetings on Capitol Hill aimed at winning congressional support amid opposition by some Democrats who are worried about the strain on the U.S. Treasury and whether Afghanistan has become a quagmire, the officials said.
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The plan adopted by Obama would fall well short of the 80,000 troops McChrystal suggested in August as a “low-risk option” that would offer the best chance to contain the Taliban-led insurgency and stabilize Afghanistan.
It splits the difference between two other McChrystal options: a “high-risk” approach that called for 20,000 additional troops and a “medium-risk” option that would add 40,000 to 45,000 troops.
The plan contains what the administration is calling “off-ramps;” a series of political and military benchmarks beginning in June that gives the President political cover to stop the deployment of these 34,000 troops mid-stream or start to actually pull troops out of Afghanistan without having to make a pro-active decision to do so.
The administration’s plan contains “off-ramps,” points starting next June at which Obama could decide to continue the flow of troops, halt the deployments and adopt a more limited strategy or “begin looking very quickly at exiting” the country, depending on political and military progress, one defense official said.
“We have to start showing progress within six months on the political side or military side or that’s it,” the U.S. defense official said.
It’s “not just how we get people there, but what’s the strategy for getting them out,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday.
No war has ever been won by a Commander-in-Chief who votes “present” in leading it. This is a political decision designed to silence both critics who remember why we’re fighting the terrorists and have been calling for more troops, and critics who are against defeating the terrorists who have been calling for a quick retreat.
These “off-ramps” are a signal of defeat before the strategy is even employed. The President should either commit to fighting the war – a war he called a “war of necessity” during the campaign when it was politically advantageous to draw a contrast to the war in Iraq – until it is won, or call it off and begin to pull the troops out now.
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