President Barack Obama on Friday ordered 4,000 more US military troops into Afghanistan, vowing to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” the Taleban and Al-Qaeda. In a war that still has no end in sight, Obama said the fresh infusion of US forces is designed to bolster the Afghan army and turn up the heat on terrorists that he said are plotting new attacks against Americans. The plan takes aim at terrorist havens in Pakistan and challenges the government there and in Afghanistan to show more results. Obama called the situation in the region “increasingly perilous” more than seven years after the Taleban were removed from power in Afghanistan. “If the Afghanistan government falls to the Taleban or allows Al-Qaeda to go unchallenged,” Obama said, “that country will again be a base for terrorists.” He announced the troop deployment, as well as plans to send hundreds of additional civilians to Afghanistan, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and top intelligence and national security figures at his side. The announcement followed a policy review Obama launched not long after taking office Jan. 20. The 4,000 troops come not long after the new administration approved the dispatch of an additional 17,000 forces to the war-weary nation. There are clear risks and costs to Obama's strategy. Violence is rising. The war in Afghanistan saw American military deaths rise by 35 percent in 2008 as Islamist extremists shifted their focus to a new front with the West. Obama's plan will also cost many more billions of dollars. And the president's plan includes no timeline for withdrawal of US troops. Yet Obama bluntly warned that the Al-Qaeda terrorists who masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were actively planning further attacks on the United States from safe havens in Pakistan. And he said the Afghanistan government is in peril of falling to the militants of the Taleban once again. “So I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future,” the president said. “That is the goal that must be achieved,” Obama added. “That is a cause that could not be more just. And to the terrorists who oppose us, my message is the same: we will defeat you.” Obama's plan will put more US troops and money on the line. He said Pakistan and Afghanistan will be held to account, using benchmarks for progress. Obama called the mountainous border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan “the most dangerous place in the world.” “This is not simply an American problem – far from it,” Obama said. “It is, instead, an international security challenge of the highest order. “Terrorist attacks in London and Bali were tied to Al-Qaeda and its allies in Pakistan, as were attacks in North Africa and the Middle East, in Islamabad and Kabul. If there is a major attack on an Asian, European, or African city, it, too, is likely to have ties to Al-Qaeda's leadership in Pakistan.” The president added: “The safety of people around the world is at stake.” Reactions The Afghan government is committed to working with the US and our allies to implement this strategy. We ask our NATO allies, major donors and the friends of Afghanistan to collaborate with the strategy's implementation by providing the resources it will need. – Said Jawad, Afghanistan's ambassador to Washington, praising US President Barack Obama for drafting a “comprehensive” strategy with “input and insights of diverse voices.” It bodes well not only for a stronger regional approach to a clearly regional problem, but to a more mature bilateral relationship between the United States and Pakistan. – Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to Washington, who said it was an “extraordinarily positive” sign that Obama was re-examining US policy in the region. The proposed military escalation in Afghanistan, without an adequate strategy in Pakistan, could make the situation worse, not better. – Democratic Senator Russell Feingold
