CBS: Obama to Give McChrystal What He Wants in Afghanistan

CBS News reported November 9 that President Barack Obama has decided to send most, if not all, the additional U.S. military forces requested by General Stanley McChrystal nearly three months ago. Such a move is bound to infuriate the President's anti-war base and is likely to cause concern among a U.S. public increasingly uneasy about the American presence in Afghanistan.

CBS News says, "Tonight, after months of conferences with top advisors, President Obama has settled on a new strategy for Afghanistan. CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that the president will send a lot more troops and plans to keep a large force there, long term."

McChrystal's original request some 90 days ago said that unless he got 40,000 more troops for the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda remnants, the United States risked military failure in the former Osama bin Laden safe haven.

CBS says, "McChrystal wanted 40,000 and the president has tentatively decided to send four combat brigades plus thousands more support troops. A senior officer says 'that's close to what [McChrystal] asked for.' All the president's military advisers have recommended sending more troops. But they also have warned that troops alone will not win the war unless Afghan President Hamid Karzai cleans up his government. 'He's got to take concrete steps to eliminate corruption,' Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said last week. 'That means you have to rid yourself of those who are corrupt. You have to actually arrest and prosecute them.'"

CBS estimates that troop deployments would begin in early 2010 and would not be complete until the end of the year. That would ensure a U.S. presence in Afghanistan through at least the end of 2011, if current troop rotations of 12 months hold steady. CBS says the troop increase could last four years.

It should be noted that the White House has denied this report by CBS News. The story includes the White House's response, which is as follows: The White House has issued the following response to this story, attributed to White House National Security Advisor James Jones:

"Reports that President Obama has made a decision about Afghanistan are absolutely false. He has not received final options for his consideration, he has not reviewed those options with his national security team, and he has not made any decisions about resources. Any reports to the contrary are completely untrue and come from uninformed sources."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/09/world/main5592551.shtml