[Peace-discuss] Obama's Friday night news dump

[C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss]

Flashback: Biden said US troops would leave Afghanistan 'come hell or high water'
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By Rebecca Shabad - 11/22/14 11:30 AM EST
Vice President Biden in 2010 said the United States would withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014 “come hell or high water,” an unlikely outcome as reports surface that President Obama recently expanded the mission.

"We're starting it in July of 2011 and we're going to be totally out of there, come hell or high water, by 2014,” he said four years ago, according to The Telegraph.

Obama announced in May that most U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan by the end of the year except for 9,800 that would stay behind through 2016. 
In recent weeks, Obama signed a classified order that will expand the U.S. mission in Afghanistan next year for those remaining troops, the New York Times reported Friday.

The new mission directs U.S. troops to carry out operations against the Taliban and other militant groups that threaten Afghanistan’s stability using jets, drones and bombers. They will also help advise and train Afghan forces so they are able to act on their own...


On Nov 21, 2014, at 11:09 PM, 'C. G. Estabrook' carl at newsfromneptune.com [sf-core] <sf-core-noreply at yahoogroups.com> wrote:

> The government traditionally waits for late Friday evening to release news that that they want to be as unnoticed as possible - thinking that the weekend news reports will be minimal.
> 
> 
> President Obama's refrain about the war's 'winding down' has always been mendacious.
> 
> 	|	BREAKING NEWS ALERT
> NYTimes.com	|	Unsubscribe
> BREAKING NEWS	Friday, November 21, 2014 9:53 PM EST
> In Secret, Obama Extended U.S. Military Role in Afghanistan Combat
> President Obama signed a secret order in recent weeks authorizing a more expansive mission for the military in Afghanistan in 2015 than originally planned, a move that ensures American troops will have a direct role in fighting in the war-ravaged country for at least another year.
> In an announcement in the White House Rose Garden in May, Mr. Obama said that the American military would have no combat role in Afghanistan next year, and that the missions for the 9,800 troops remaining in the country would be limited to training Afghan forces and to hunting the “remnants of Al Qaeda.”
> But Mr. Obama’s secret order allows American forces to carry out missions against the Taliban and other militant groups threatening American troops or the Afghan government, a broader mission than the president described to the public earlier this year, according to several administration, military and congressional officials with knowledge of the decision. The new authorization also allows American jets, bombers and drones to support Afghan troops on combat missions.
> READ MORE »
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/22/us/politics/in-secret-obama-extends-us-role-in-afghan-combat.html?emc=edit_na_20141121
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