>Barack Obama was heard on five US talk-shows yesterday saying that the strategy on Afghanistan had to be re-thought.
He was notably questioned on General McChrystal’s report in which the top military commander in Afghanistan makes it very clear that unless additional troops are sent, the conflict “will likely result in failure.”
President Obama however refused to say if he planned to send in more troops or not:
“We’re going to test whatever resources we have against our strategy, which is if by sending young men and women into harm’s way, we are defeating Al Qaeda and, and that can be shown to a skeptical audience, namely me — somebody who is always asking hard questions about deploying troops, then we will do what’s required to keep the American people safe.”
Now I am not going to argue here on what should be done. This, readers, is for YOU to debate.
On a more hopeful note, today is Peace Day.
McChrystal said that the troops will be on the defensive but “will not conduct offensive military operations […] to observe the United Nations’ International Day of Peace”.
Afghan defence minister’s spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi expressed that “the people of Afghanistan are more thirsty for peace than any other nation. They have experienced decades of war and they want peace now”.