"Taken together, these additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces, and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011.
Below is the entirety of what I was able to obtain moments before tonight's speech. Judge for yourself:
"The 30,000 additional troops that I am announcing tonight will deploy in the first part of 2010 – the fastest pace possible – so that they can target the insurgency and secure key population centers. They will increase our ability to train competent Afghan Security Forces, and to partner with them so that more Afghans can get into the fight. And they will help create the conditions for the United States to transfer responsibility to the Afghans."
"Because this is an international effort, I have asked that our commitment be joined by contributions from our allies. Some have already provided additional troops, and we are confident that there will be further contributions in the days and weeks ahead. Our friends have fought and bled and died alongside us in Afghanistan. Now, we must come together to end this war successfully. For what's at stake is not simply a test of NATO's credibility – what's at stake is the security of our Allies, and the common security of the world."
"Taken together, these additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces, and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011. Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground. We will continue to advise and assist Afghanistan's Security Forces to ensure that they can succeed over the long haul. But it will be clear to the Afghan government – and, more importantly, to the Afghan people – that they will ultimately be responsible for their own country."
Developing...
If he really really believed that then he wouldn't set a timetable for retreat. This makes no sense
He may yet get his chance 'cause American Weakness draws AlQaida every single time.
I would wait till the nitwit taliban goes into their caves to wait out the winter then bomb the hell out of the caves.
There are bombs now in the U.S. arsenal to penetrate far into the caves.
Are you sure 0bama is Kenyan, not French?
Wow. Compare to Bush’s surge speech. He took responsibilty for any prior problems, and asked us to give him one last chance to get it right. He didn’t brag about himself being CIC. He didn’t whine about partisanship. He just acted like on on leader.
This must be one of them thar “surging retreats”.
So all the Taliban and Al-Qaeda have to do is wait a couple of years until America leaves Afghanistan and then they can march in and take over the country. At least that’s the way I see it.
Maybe I’m wrong about that but that’s the way I see this thing going.
They’re painting the helicopter landing pad on the embassy rooftop in Kabul even as we speak...
It took Obamao three months to come up with this?
How does one ‘end a war successfully’ without winning that war? I didn’t notice the term “win the war” anywhere in Zero’s speech. I’m thinking that’s intentional, on his part.