Confirming a McClatchy report that I wrote about earlier this week, CBS News is reporting that President Obama is set to announce a troop plan that will give General Stanley McChrystal nearly all the troops that he asked for:
Tonight, after months of conferences with top advisors, President Obama has settled on a new strategy for Afghanistan. CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that the president will send a lot more troops and plans to keep a large force there, long term.
The president still has more meetings scheduled on Afghanistan, but informed sources tell CBS News he intends to give Gen. Stanley McChrystal most, if not all, the additional troops he is asking for.
McChrystal wanted 40,000 and the president has tentatively decided to send four combat brigades plus thousands more support troops. A senior officer says “that’s close to what [McChrystal] asked for.” All the president’s military advisers have recommended sending more troops.
But they also have warned that troops alone will not win the war unless Afghan President Hamid Karzai cleans up his government.
“He’s got to take concrete steps to eliminate corruption,” Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said last week. “That means you have to rid yourself of those who are corrupt. You have to actually arrest and prosecute them.”
The first combat troops would not arrive until early next year and it would be the end of 2010 before they were all there. That makes this Afghanistan surge very different from the Iraq surge, in which 30,000 troops descended on Baghdad and the surrounding area in just five months.
It should be noted that the White House is not confirming the CBS report:
Editor’s note, 9:57 p.m. EDT: The White House has issued the following response to this story, attributed to White House National Security Advisor James Jones:
“Reports that President Obama has made a decision about Afghanistan are absolutely false. He has not eceived final options for his consideration, he has not reviewed those options with his national security team, and he has not made any decisions about resources. Any reports to the contrary are completely untrue and come from uninformed sources.”
Honestly, I’m not sure what a slow surge would accomplish.
“That means you have to rid yourself of those who are corrupt. You have to actually arrest and prosecute them.”
Good (bleep)ing luck with that. You’ll probably have to start with Karzai and work your way down. Your replacement will likely be as corrupt or worse, and will of course be considered a US puppet.