Obama Looking At Shift In Military Mission In Afghanistan To Advisory Role As Soon As Next Year!!!

[bigtree]

US Explores Faster Transition in Afghanistan

Wednesday, 02 Nov 2011, 8:59 PM CDT

(NewsCore) - The Obama administration is exploring a shift in the US military's mission in Afghanistan to an advisory role as soon as next year, senior officials said, a move that would scale back US combat duties well ahead of their scheduled conclusion at the end of 2014.

Such a move would have broad implications for the US strategy in Afghanistan. It could begin a phase-out of the current troop-intensive approach -- which focuses on protecting the Afghan population -- in favor of a greater focus on targeted counterterrorism operations, as well as training the Afghan military.

A transition to a training mission could also allow for a faster drawdown of US forces in the country, though officials said discussions about troop levels had yet to move forward. The revised approach has been discussed in recent high-level meetings involving top defense and administration officials, according to people involved in the deliberations. No decisions have been made, officials said, and policy makers could consider other options that would adjust the mission in other ways.

Officials said agreement on a formal shift to an advisory role could come as early as a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) meeting in May -- in the heat of the US presidential election campaign.

Some officials have drawn comparisons to Barack Obama's 2009 decision to switch to an "advise and assist" role in Iraq and to declare a formal end to US combat operations there. In Iraq, after mid-2009, troops were largely confined to their bases.


read: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpps/news/us-explores-faster-transition-in-afghanistan-dpgonc-20111102-kh_15771678

[DCBob]

1. very good news...

i have been expecting something like this.

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2. me too

:)

Inevitable Retreat in Afghanistan
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1394


The President could energize his reelection campaign by announcing an early Afghanistan withdrawal
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2232447


A reelected Pres. Obama will likely meet the 2014 deadline to remove most troops from Afghanistan
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2228770

[bigtree]

3. kick

[bigtree]

4. AP picked it up

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is considering an early shift in the U.S. military role in Afghanistan from primarily combat to mainly advisory and training duties, even as it struggles to create the beginnings of a political settlement of the war, a senior U.S. official said late Wednesday . . .


If the faster transition from combat to primarily advising Afghan forces is adopted it would mean a reduction in American combat duties sooner than the administration had planned. But it would not mean an early end to the war, which began in October 2001 in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and became stalemated in the years before President Barack Obama took office.

(I wouldn't bet on 'no early end'. The decision to remain longer is an arbitrary one. It makes no difference if we leave now or in 2014 and the President has no vested interest in lingering longer, politically or personally.)

The war has grown increasingly unpopular at home, and Obama is gearing up for a re-election campaign in which he is expected to emphasis his ending of the Iraq war this year and his efforts to wind down combat in Afghanistan by 2014.

In December 2009 Obama announced he was sending an additional 33,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan in a bid to change the course of the war. The U.S. and its NATO partners agreed in Lisbon one year ago that coalition forces would complete their combat mission by Dec. 31, 2014, with the understanding that advising and training Afghan forces would gradually become a more dominant part of the mission, particularly after the U.S. completes the withdrawal of 33,000 "surge" troops by September 2012.


read: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i0WqJ1dt-Ybvfr_70DW0amympa1g?docId=f588fd76b0f944e4b43a81a3ab132445

[bigtree]

5. kick