Initial Reactions

(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)


Well we have a strategy and a timeline. Even though the strategy was relatively vague, the timeline was not. 18 months...that is all NATO and the U.S. gets to finish the job.

Some excerpts below.

The 30,000 additional troops that I am announcing tonight will deploy in the first part of 2010 – the fastest pace possible – so that they can target the insurgency and secure key population centers. They will increase our ability to train competent Afghan Security Forces, and to partner with them so that more Afghans can get into the fight. And they will help create the conditions for the United States to transfer responsibility to the Afghans.

Still no word on which units, what their qualifications will be, or how proficient these "troops" are in their understanding of Afghan culture. In spite of these minor details, the troops are going to secure the cities in an agrarian nation that is combating a rural insurgency.

Speaking of the troops, the U.S. Army recently published new suicide prevention guidelines.

The brigade and battalion commanders will—

a. Establish task forces, committees, and risk reduction teams to facilitate health promotion initiatives to reduce high-risk behaviors and build resiliency.

Hopefully these anti-suicide task forces can secure the key population centers from Taliban intimidation while ensuring U.S. conventional soldiers do not take their own lives.

More from the President:

Taken together, these additional American and international troops 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. Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground. We will continue to advise and assist Afghanistan’s Security Forces to ensure that they can succeed over the long haul. But it will be clear to the Afghan government – and, more importantly, to the Afghan people – that they will ultimately be responsible for their own country.

How well have conventional forces advised and assisted Afghanistan's Security Forces over the past 8 years you ask?



There is a reason why conventional forces were used primarily for logistics in the Post-Vietnam insurgencies of the 80s. It looks as though the U.S. will relearn that lesson the hard way.