President Obama meets with Joint Chiefs at 1:30pm EDST

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President Obama Meets with Joint Chiefs of Staff

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The Future Afghan Army Officers

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Today may be another step towards making a decision regarding a comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan.  In late August General Stanley McChrystal submitted his report and recommendations for the Strategy announced in March.  McChrystal estimates that he will require up to 40,000 troops to be successful in Afghanistan.

The National Security Council (NSC), which includes VP Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Advisor General (ret) Jones, has discussed and floated several options.  Joe Biden has recommended to make this war a stand-off war using air strikes and drones.  This is a strategy tried previously and would probably create too much collateral damage.  The meeting with the Joint Chiefs will be the 7th Strategy Meeting for Afghanistan and the second with the Joint Chiefs.  The President met with them during the first month in office.

The President is said to be in the final stages of making this decision.  Today he will meet with the Joint Chiefs, presumably to get an assessment of troop requirements and support needed.  They would probably also discuss the troop flow into Afghanistan and how quickly troops could be trained and recruited for the mission.

Many believe that the decision will be made next week after the Afghan re-run elections and perhaps that there were also political consideration with elections taking place next Tuesday in New Jersey and Virginia.

Although the composition of the Afghan government may be a consideration, it is relatively insignificant unless conditions can be created to extend the reach of this government beyond Kabul. 

It is doubtful that the decision will be held over after next week, since the President is expected to be out of the country for a lengthy period.

The Joint Chiefs seem to be supporting General McChrystal's recommendation and it is believed that the President will go with a model known as McChrystal light, i.e slightly over 10,000 additional troops.

Regardless what decision President Obama comes up with in the end, he will receive criticism from his left base.  If he goes with anything short of General McChrystal's recommendation he sure to be criticized by Conservatives.

He is not in an enviable position.