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| Afghanistan |
| Obama vows to finish the job in Afghanistan |
| 2009-11-25 |
| [Iran Press TV Latest] US President Barack Obama promises to "finish the job" in Afghanistan, in an indirect admission to the absence of tangible results as the war trudges into its ninth year. "After eight years, some of those years in which we did not have, I think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done, it is my intention to finish the job," the president said, speaking at a Washington press conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "I will be making an announcement to the American people about how we intend to move forward. I will be doing so shortly," Obama added on his upcoming address during which he is supposed to unveil an allegedly overhauled battleground strategy. The new strategic outline could involve assigning 40,000 extra US troops to the Afghanistan contingents. "It is in our strategic interests, in our national security interest, to make sure that al-Qaeda and its extremist allies cannot operate effectively in those areas. We are going to dismantle and degrade their capabilities and ultimately dismantle and destroy their networks." The United States led its mostly Western allies in occupying the war-ravaged country in 2001, accusing the Taliban government at the time of providing support and refuge to the al-Qaeda terror elements, which the US officials blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks. The US government also claimed a commitment to "bring an end to the suffering of the Afghan people." The violence, however, has escalated steadily and has reached its height in the past months, though the war currently enlists less than 110,000 foreign troops. Many thousands of Afghan civilians have died during fire exchanges between the militants and the Afghan and foreign soldiers, and as a result of heavy and miscalculated bombardments of alleged militant hideouts in civilian-populated areas. In the wake of poll data indicating that more than half of the American public is opposed to the long-drawn-out war, the US commander-in-chief said he predicted that the prospective strategy would create a "supportive" disposition among the American nationals towards the operations. The Opinion Research Corporation, commissioned by the CNN, found that 52 percent of the Americans were against the so-called counterinsurgency operations, while 45 percent favored them. As Afghanistan rolls over in turmoil, Obama also claimed that stability there was closely intertwined with Washington's pursuits. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 Indeed. Let's stay until the cows come home + 20 years. The current whyinz will turn in 2 years. |
| Posted by: Perry Stanford White 2009-11-25 16:58 |
| #4 I'm NOT reassured, you can "Finish" any job by Quitting. (Walk away, no troops, no men no supplies, and no support whatever,) |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-11-25 12:15 |
| #3 Finish the job? What's he planning to do, dispatch the Purple SEIU mob? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2009-11-25 09:52 |
| #2 In other news, Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry told reporters that a military helicopter recently assigned to the U.S. embassy in Kabul was "a routine security measure"... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-11-25 09:11 |
| #1 I wonder what the "sell by date" is on this promise? |
| Posted by: whitecollar redneck 2009-11-25 06:58 |