US/Afghanistan - Obama's new policy

Obama vows to finish the job in Afghanistan

Article published on the 2009-11-25 Latest update 2009-11-25 18:03 TU

Obama has vowed to finish the job in Afghanistan
(Photo: Reuters)

US President Barack Obama has said he intends to wipe out the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan but has delayed outlining his proposed method for doing so until after Thursday’s Thanksgiving Holiday.

"After eight years, some of those years in which we did not have, I think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done, it is my intention to finish the job," he said after talks on Tuesday with Indian Prime Minister Manohan Singh.

"We are going to dismantle and degrade their capabilities and ultimately dismantle and destroy their networks. And Afghanistan's stability is important to that process."

Obama is expected to announce his decision on whether to send more American troops to Afghanistan.

Reports in Washington suggest that he will authorise and 34,000 troops to join the war, in line with the demands of his Afghan war commander, General Stanley McChrystal who has asked for up to 40,000 more troops to supplement the 68,000 US troops already there.

Other officials, including the US ambassador to Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, have warned against ramping up troop levels until the Afghan government clamps down on corruption.

"I feel very confident that when the American people hear a clear rationale for what we're doing there and how we intend to achieve our goals, that they will be supportive," he said.

Obama, however, said that he expected his Nato allies to follow his lead and boost their forces and insisted that "the Afghan people ultimately are going to have to provide

for their own security".

Nato allies, whose contributions bring foreign forces in Afghanistan to about 110,000, are due to take up the question of sending more troops at upcoming gatherings of the military alliance in early December.

Obama’s perceived dithering over a new Afghanistan policy is frustrating his supporters at home and overseas.

A new poll released by CNN showed roughly half of Americans support sending tens of thousands more troops, while just 45 per cent say they are in favour of the war.

Meanwhile in the UK, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has criticised Obama and the US for a decline in support among the British public for the war in Afghanistan. 

“We have suffered a lot of losses," he said.

"We have had a period of hiatus while McChrystal's plan and his requested uplift has been looked at in the detail to which it has been looked at over a period of some months, and we have had the Afghan elections, which have been far from perfect.

“All of those things have mitigated against our ability to show progress... put that on the other side of the scales when we are suffering the kind of losses that we are."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has promised an “exit strategy” that could start next year.