[Peace-discuss] administration given pause over Afghanistan

[Jenifer Cartwright]

Thanks, Randall (and Mort) -- this is news I'd like to believe in. Hope it's the first of many good signs.
 --Jenifer 

--- On Sun, 2/8/09, Randall Cotton <recotton at earthlink.net> wrote:

From: Randall Cotton <recotton at earthlink.net>
Subject: [Peace-discuss] administration given pause over Afghanistan
To: peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
Date: Sunday, February 8, 2009, 9:57 PM

A short article in the Times of London illustrating what Mort and I
referred to earlier this evening at the AWARE meeting:

**********

Obama puts brake on Afghan surge
Sarah Baxter and Michael Smith

PRESIDENT Barack Obama has demanded that American defence chiefs review
their strategy in Afghanistan before going ahead with a troop surge.

There is concern among senior Democrats that the military is preparing to
send up to 30,000 extra troops without a coherent plan or exit strategy.

The Pentagon was set to announce the deployment of 17,000 extra soldiers
and marines last week but Robert Gates, the defence secretary, postponed
the decision after questions from Obama.

The president was concerned by a lack of strategy at his first meeting
with Gates and the US joint chiefs of staff last month in "the tank",
the
secure conference room in the Pentagon. He asked: "What's the
endgame?"
and did not receive a convincing answer.

Larry Korb, a defence expert at the Center for American Progress, a
Washington think tank, said: "Obama is exactly right. Before he agrees to
send 30,000 troops, he wants to know what the mission and the endgame is."

Obama promised an extra 7,000-10,000 troops during the election campaign
but the military has inflated its demands. Leading Democrats fear
Afghanistan could become Obama's "Vietnam quagmire".

If the surge goes ahead the military intend to limit the mission to
fighting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and leave democracy building and
reconstruction to Nato allies and civilians from the State Department and
other agencies.

The United States has been pushing Britain to send several thousand more
troops but there is just as much disagreement and confusion among British
defence chiefs over the long-term aim. Gordon Brown is set to receive a
full briefing this week.

General Sir Richard Dannatt, the army chief who will step down this
summer, has insisted that troops need a rest and believes he can send only
one battlegroup, senior defence sources said.

General Sir David Richards, his successor, believes that the two extra
battlegroups the Americans have asked for is the minimum the UK should
send, the sources said.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5683681.ece

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