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US Army cadets look on at US President Barack Obama address - Source: Reuters -
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President Barack Obama said he is sending 30,000 more US troops
to Afghanistan by next summer to speed the battle against the
Taliban and plans to start bringing some home in 18 months.
The goal, Obama said in a prime-time televised address, will be to
fight the Taliban, secure key population centers and train enough
Afghan security forces so they can take over.
Obama's gamble that a troop surge will turn around a deteriorating
situation in Afghanistan marked a defining moment in his
presidency.
Trying to convince skeptical Americans, Obama recalled the spirit
of unity after the September 11 attacks on the United States by al
Qaeda in 2001 and warned that the militants were plotting fresh
attacks.
"If I did not think that the security of the United States and the
safety of the American people were at stake in Afghanistan, I would
gladly order every single one of our troops home tomorrow," he told
cadets at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York.
The accelerated timetable Obama unveiled, after a three-month
strategy review, surprised some Pentagon planners who had expected
a 12- to 18-month period for deploying forces to bolster the 68,000
US troops already in the war zone.
Major US troop movements are likely to begin in January and all
30,000 troops should be in place by the end of August, defense
officials said.
The head of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said after Obama's speech
that he expected "at least 5,000 more forces from other countries
in our alliance and possibly a few thousand more."
Beyond the United States, members of the alliance now have about
42,000 soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan.
'Vital national interest'
The US troop surge will cost about $30 billion this fiscal year,
Obama said.
"As commander-in-chief, I have determined that it is in our vital
national interest to send an additional 30,000 US troops to
Afghanistan. After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home,"
he said.
These US troops plus the NATO contingent, Obama said, "will allow
us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces and
allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in
July of 2011."
Under that timeframe, the soldiers would begin returning home
before Obama's expected re-election bid in 2012.
Obama made clear any drawdown would be contingent on security
conditions on the ground at the time, giving him some leeway to
change his schedule if needed.
The vanguard of the US buildup is expected to be the swift
deployment of 9,000 Marines into some of the most dangerous parts
of the country - Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan,
including Kandahar and Helmand.
Obama's speech had many audiences at home and abroad.
He attempted to straddle the political divide in Washington,
seeking to satisfy Republican demands for more troops while trying
to convince war-weary Americans and fellow Democrats that the
troops will not stay there long.
And he sought to reassure NATO allies and the leaders of
Afghanistan and Pakistan that he was not abandoning the effort,
while pressuring them to make sure they hold up their end of the
bargain.
Initial reaction was positive, although Republicans worried that
his setting a July 2011 deadline to start a pullout would send the
wrong message to US allies.
"A withdrawal date only emboldens al Qaeda and the Taliban, while
dispiriting our Afghan partners and making it less likely that they
will risk their lives to take our side in this fight," said Senator
John McCain, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services
Committee.
Senior administration officials said Obama's decision to start
bringing the troops home by July 2011 represents a faster exit
timetable than any of the options presented to him during the
three-month review of Afghan policy.
Obama defended his decision and promised any pullout would be done
responsibly.
"The absence of a timeframe for transition would deny us any sense
of urgency in working with the Afghan government," he said.
The anticipated $30 billion needed to fund the troop surge will
push the cost of military operations in Afghanistan to nearly $95
billion for this fiscal year, eclipsing the $61 billion to be spent
in the same period on the Iraq war.
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