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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Obama to send more troops into Afghanistan
Source: Agencies |
March 28, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
UNITED States President Barack Obama yesterday ordered 4,000 more troops into Afghanistan, vowing to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" the terrorist al-Qaida network in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.
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 Taliban was removed from power in Afghanistan.
"If the Afghanistan government falls to the Taliban or allows al-Qaida 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 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 the oath of office.
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 Islamic extremists shifted their focus to a new front with the West. Obama's plan will also cost many more billions of dollars.
The plan includes no timeline for withdrawal of US troops. Obama also said the Afghanistan government is in peril of falling to the Islamic militants of the Taliban once again.
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 Taliban was removed from power in Afghanistan.
"If the Afghanistan government falls to the Taliban or allows al-Qaida 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 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 the oath of office.
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 Islamic extremists shifted their focus to a new front with the West. Obama's plan will also cost many more billions of dollars.
The plan includes no timeline for withdrawal of US troops. Obama also said the Afghanistan government is in peril of falling to the Islamic militants of the Taliban once again.
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