Washington, December 02: President Barack Obama last night unveiled his “endgame” strategy for the war in Afghanistan with a pledge to deploy an additional 30,000 US troops “at the fastest pace possible” with the goal of starting the process of withdrawal as soon as July 2011 – just eighteen months away.
The speech, delivered to cadets at the West Point Military Academy in New York and televised live to the nation, marked an end to months of anguished debate inside the White House against a background of dwindling support for the war throughout the US and Europe. It is arguably America’s last chance to reset the clock and get things right with the war in Afghanistan – for so long the step-sister to the military effort in Iraq.
The President directly confronted critics, many in his own party, who continue to claim that by expanding the war effort, Mr Obama is indeed leading the country into a new Vietnam dead end. That, he said, amounted to “a false reading of history.” He said that unlike Vietnam, the US has been joined by a coalition of 43 nations in Afghanistan and is not facing a broad-based popular insurgency. He said that in this case, moreover, “the American people were viciously attacked from Afghanistan, and remain a target” for al-Qa’ida extremists.
–Agencies