Great 60-Minutes interview -- "US Afghan plan must have 'exit strategy': Obama"

[ProSense]

US Afghan plan must have 'exit strategy': Obama

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama said the United States must have an "exit strategy" in Afghanistan even as it expands its military, diplomatic and economic efforts against a Taliban insurgency.

"So what we're looking for is a comprehensive strategy," Obama said in an interview aired Sunday on CBS television's 60 Minutes show. "And there's got to be an exit strategy."

"There's got to be a sense that this is not a perpetual drift," he said.

Obama's comments come as his administration prepares to roll out its new strategy for Afghanistan amid rising insurgent violence that has put in question the viability of a seven-year-old US-led effort to create a functioning democracy.

A decision last month to send 17,000 more US troops to Afghanistan in response to a deteriorating security situation was the most difficult he has had to make since taking office, Obama said.

"You know I think it is the right thing to do. But it's a weighty decision because we actually had to make the decision prior to the completion of (the) strategic review that we were conducting," he said.

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Obama wants comprehensive strategy in Afghanistan

By MICHELE SALCEDO, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – A comprehensive strategy in Afghanistan — including an exit plan — is key to America's "No. 1 mission" of preventing an attack on the U.S., its interests or its allies, President Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

"What we can't do is think that just a military approach in Afghanistan is going to be able to solve our problems," the president said on CBS' "60 Minutes." "So what we're looking for is a comprehensive strategy. And there's got to be an exit strategy. There's got to be a sense that this is not perpetual drift."

Obama's comments were a prelude to a revamped plan for fighting insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is expected to be announced this week. On Friday, a military official said the overhauled U.S. strategy would call for new garrisons in far-flung Afghan communities to better hold off the Taliban.

Obama's plan covers the next three to five years, with the goals of containing the insurgency, heading off the possibility that it could topple Afghanistan's fragile central government and providing enough security for Afghan citizens that they reject the insurgents of their own accord, the official said Friday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the review was not complete.

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[Hope And Change]

1. K & R!

[BeFree]

13. He was great

Better than I ever expected! What a refreshing change he is.

Tell yall, I am a great judge of folks, and I reserved judgment on Obama, but here and now, I gotta say, it's gonna be a whole lot better 8 years than just about anyone could have imagined.

[Cha]

2. I really liked those

words coming from the Prez..and the right thing to say about the "most weighty decision being the 17,000 Soldiers he's sent into Afghanistan".

[ErinBerin84]

3. he

said that the decision to send more troops to Afghanistan was the hardest decision he has made since taking office.

[empyreanisles]

4. What is the general feeling in the public about Afghanistan?

I mean if Obama was to decide to just skip out, what would be the fall out?

I believe that we can focus on good intelligence and protecting our borders to reduce terrorist threats.

I was not against going to Afghanistan shortly after 9/11, because we had the clear goal of catching Bin Laden and his people. But I believe we got distracted by the Iraq mistake, and it has slipped the mission in Afg. into "unsolvable" status.

I am willing to live with whatever risk these "safe havens" might pose in return for having a USA with no military presence where there is not an IMMINENT threat.

Believe me, I WANT to see the 9/11 perpetrators brought to justice. But there comes a point where we have to cut our losses and figure out another strategy.

No doubt, Obama has weighed all of the concerns I am voicing here. He also knows much more about what the situation REALLY is than I do. Maybe he feels he needs to at least give it one good TRY before finally giving up.

I am willing to stick with him so far. But if we don't see any type of progress I'd say by 2 years, I think its time to seriously consider pulling out.

[Aloha Spirit]

5. Here's some gallup polls that put it (public opinion) in perspective

http://www.gallup.com/poll/116233/Afghanistan.aspx

People seem to have responded to Obama's position that Iraq took our attention away from the real problem in Afghanistan, and they seem to support the additional troops that the President ordered.

[empyreanisles]

7. Interesting. Thanks for the link.

It is almost split down the middle on the question of what the outcome will be in 3 years.

49% - US will stabilize Afghanistan
46% - US will not stabilize Afghanistan
4% - Unsure


Within the group that believes stabilization will not occurr, 31% think it will be a "stalemate", while 11% believe the Taliban will actually be winning.


This is a toughie (or maybe not, depending on your philosophy).

[stillcool]

6. Would be nice if we pulled out..

of the 1,000 bases we have on foreign soil across the globe. Our military is to protect 'business interests'..not us.

[firedupdem]

8. K & R! n/t

[Breeze54]

9. "Obama said the United States must have an "exit strategy""

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

His exit "strategy" is just like Bush's... hopeless!! :P

Limp all the time and hopes to pull out at the last minute.

[thevoiceofreason]

10. Somehwere, a village is missing its nattering nabob.

[Cha]

11. Oh yeah, Obama is just like bush..

wtf are you on?

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. Breeze drank a bucketful of Angostura Bitters last May

It's still affecting the belly, apparently.

[Cha]

19. I know about the bitters but I thought

it was now gorging on helium and got too much.

[FrenchieCat]

12. At this point, I can't tell if you are serving up satire,

or hiding your real thoughts behind a few :rofl:

Either way, it makes it hard to take what you are saying seriously.
I'm scratching my ass myself. :shrug:

[Breeze54]

14. The DLC will NOT get US out of 'these wars'!

http://www.hnn.us/articles/70041.html

The only way out of Afghanistan is through an asymmetrical diplomatic grand strategy encompassing the entire Middle East and South Asia. The task is daunting, to be sure, but Obama and Hillary Clinton have at least shown a desperately needed willingness to pursue diplomacy as opposed to the failed approach of dictating America’s will to the world community.

The Afghan intervention--like the Iraq intervention, the Vietnam intervention, and all too many other American interventions--stems from a fundamental ignorance or misunderstanding of history. Simply put these are post-colonial wars that are not susceptible to Western imposed military solutions. However well intentioned or rational that they believe themselves to be, modernist Western powers ultimately can only be perceived by the peoples subjected to their destructive power as interventionists violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the nations that they are in fact invading.

After campaigning for President on a “get out of Iraq and get tough in Afghanistan” theme, Obama has partially backed off on the former and gotten deeper into the latter. He is thus not off to a promising start in bringing an end to these unwinnable wars.

More........

:(

[FrenchieCat]

17. Actually, that's not true, right?

Getting tough in Afganistan as the article terms it
agrees with what he stated repeatetly during the campaign,
in that he would send more troups in.

However he is working on what we are to ultimately do there.

He talked about in depth on 60 Minutes, if you bothered to watch.


As for Iraq, he is actually gonna bring it to an end, although it wasn't yesterday.

So, in response, your posts are not satire, they are simply weird responses
disconnected from reality.

You are suffering from a very bad case of....



coupled with the Virus known as.....




You must have been very spoiled as a child? :shrug:

[stillcool]

16. I haven't seen you in a while...

since the primaries I think. I notice you still like to use :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: and you still have your deep seeded dislike of the President. It must really eat at you.

[geek tragedy]

18. 'Meow' said the Puma. n/t