President Obama discusses Afghanistan with hisnational security team in Washington Sept. 30. (White House)
White House Seeks To Explain Its Hesitations On Afghanistan -- Times Online
President Obama will not decide whether to sanction a troop surge for Afghanistan until the issue of whether the country has a credible government has been settled, the White House Chief of Staff said today.
Rahm Emanuel said that the question of whether to send 40,000 extra troops was important but that the biggest issue was whether Afghanistan had a legitimate and credible government that could work with the US and other countries seeking to stabilise it.
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My Comment: What has not helped the administration was their public pronouncements at the beginning of the year that they had a plan for Afghanistan. Coupled with comments that the Afghan war was a war of necessity ... the administration has exposed themselves to criticism that they do not know what they are doing.
I personally think this criticism is exaggerated. For example, it took President Bush and his team a few months to lay the groundwork for the Iraq surge, and a few months after that to implement it. I fully expect President Obama to do the same thing. A few months to lay the groundwork for an Afghan surge, followed by a few months to implement it.
But ..... if we are in the same situation a few months from now .... the criticism that President Obama is receiving now will certainly be justified .... and then some more.