InfoAnda - Obama To Announce Afghan Strategy In Primetime Address From West Point

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Home U.S. World Entertainment Sports Business Health Science Technology Politics Offbeat Environment Travel News Articles Obama To Announce Afghan Strategy In Primetime Address From West Point December 1, 2009 7:59 p.m. EST Topics: Politics, United States, World Kris Alingod - AHN Contributor Washington, D.C. (AHN) - President Barack Obama announces his new strategy in Afghanistan on Tuesday from West Point. He met with Defense Sec. Robert Gates and congressional leaders before his prime time address, which will call for an additional deployment of about 30,000 troops, lower than the number recommended by NATO and U.S. commander Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal. With a record deficit, the cost of the strategy is one of the main concerns among Democrats and Republicans. Obama held afternoon meetings with senior advisors and with Gates at the Oval Office. He and Vice President Joe Biden then huddled with top lawmakers at 4:00 pm ET in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Leaders from the Senate included Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Republican Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), the ranking Republican in the Appropriations panel. From the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) and Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), the top Republican in the Armed Services panel. At 8:00 pm ET, the President addresses the nation from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Obama will discuss efforts to Pakistan, which shares a border with Afghanistan and has been used as a haven by extremists. The President has said repeatedly that Pakistan is inextricably linked with the Afghan war, which is now on its eighth year. He will reiterate that the war "is not an open-ended commitment," Press Secretary Robert Gates said in a briefing on Monday, "that we are there to partner with the Afghans, to train the Afghan national security forces, the army and the police, so that they can provide the security for their country." Gibbs was mum about questions on how the President plans to pay for the new strategy, expected to be in billions of dollars at a time when the nation has a record $176 billion deficit and $14 trillion debt. A war tax is one possible way to cover the cost, but is not likely to pass in Congress, where anti-war Democrats have called for a timetable for withdrawing troops and said they would oppose a surge of troops. "You'll hear the President acknowledge the resource requirements, and the responsibilities and the tradeoffs that are going to be discussed both here and, more importantly, on Capitol Hill, as they control the purse strings," Gibbs said. Obama has been holding a series of war councils with his national security team to determine the next steps in the war. The decision has been complicated by the first presidential elections in Afghanistan in three decades, which resulted in fraud and a cancelled runoff that gave the incumbent, President Hamid Karzai, a second term. The President and NATO allies have made clear to Karzai that his Afghan government, which controls only 40 percent of the nation, should increase efforts to fight corruption, which the White House says is needed to address the security situation in Afghanistan. Obama on Monday called Karzai, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other trans-Atlantic allies. "In order for us to succeed there, youâ€™ve got to have a comprehensive strategy that includes civilian and diplomatic efforts," Obama said last week. Obama makes his speech a day after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that he would send 500 more troops to Afghanistan, increasing the number of British soldiers deployed to 9,500. McChrystal in August submitted his strategic assessment of the war, saying the engagement is in serious jeopardy unless changes are made in 12 months, such as sending more troops to stem the growing Taliban insurgency. He is said to have asked for 40,000 additional troops in his confidential assessment, excerpts of which have been leaked. But the Vice President had called for keeping troops at current levels and using more drone and missile attacks, while Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), a leading liberal, has repeatedly called for a timetable for withdrawing troops and pledged to block any efforts to deploy more soldiers. Conservatives, meanwhile, have criticized the President for delaying his decision, saying he was putting American troops at risk. Obama had said he would take a "deliberate process" in determining the next steps for the war, and that no decisions on resources will be made without "absolute clarity" on the strategy. Last week, he made clear, â€œIt is my intention to finish the job.â€ This year is turning out to be the most tragic for Americans troops in Afghanistan, where violence has risen about 60 percent from last year. There are currently 68,000 troops deployed there, about 38,000 of which are in NATO's International Security Assistance Force. The number includes the 21,000 troops announced by Obama in March, when he outlined a new strategy that included training and increasing the size of the Afghan Army to 134,000 and the local police force to 82,000 by 2011. Copyright © 2003 - 2009 AHN - All rights reserved.Redistribution, republication. syndication, rewriting or broadcast is prohibited without the prior written consent of AHN.License AHN news for your website, business, digital signage network or publication. Recent Posts Most Popular Comments Recent Comments Popular Threads Home | U.S. | World | Entertainment | Sports | Business | Health | Sci / Tech | Politics | Weird / Offbeat Follow AHN on Twitter AHN Social News connects you with friends and the news Client Login | Submit News | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact | Content Services © 2009 AHN All Rights Reserved

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