EH> RS> Yeah right. (sarcasm off)

EH>If you had been paying attention for the last couple years you'd know
EH>that Pakistan is no longer an ally. We have been supplying our troops
EH>through one of the other 'stans to the north for some time now.

EH>Pakistan is the birthplace of the Taliban and they have strongholds
EH>all along the Paki/Afghani border on the Paki side.

Notice how Bush allowed the generals on the ground to decide troop 
levels and the battle plans.  Obama himself will decide troop levels.  
This is very much what happened early in The Clinton administration in 
Africa with disastrous results.  


http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090326/D975T99O1.html


Sources: More US troops for Afghan war 

Mar 26, 3:16 PM (ET)

By ANNE GEARAN and PAMELA HESS


WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama plans to dispatch additional 
U.S. troops plus hundreds of civilian advisers in hopes of turning 
around a faltering war in Afghanistan and will recommend increasing aid 
to neighboring Pakistan so long as leaders there confront militancy, 
people familiar with the forthcoming plan said Thursday.

Obama plans to lay out his revamped strategy for Afghanistan and 
Pakistan on Friday. Several sources told The Associated Press it 
includes 20 recommendations for countering a persistent insurgency that 
spans the two countries' border.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs would not discuss specifics of 
the plan, but said Obama is beginning to discuss its findings with 
members of Congress and others. Obama's top military advisers briefed 
key lawmakers Thursday.

In broad terms, Obama will define U.S. objectives as eliminating the 
threat from al-Qaida to undermine or topple U.S.-backed elected 
governments or to launch attacks on the United States, its interests and 
allies, the sources said.

Sources described the recommendations on condition of anonymity because 
the final wording was not complete. The new plan identified al-Qaida as 
the target in a larger network of insurgents who threaten U.S. and 
allied forces in Afghanistan, often from sanctuaries across the border 
in Pakistan.

The additional 4,000 troops will be devoted to training and advising the 
Afghan armed forces, defense officials said. The latest additions would 
head to Afghanistan this spring and summer. They come on top of about 
17,000 combat and support troops Obama wants in place by the end of the 
summer.

The forthcoming White House review also says the U.S. will add hundreds 
of civilian advisers to those already in Afghanistan. The so-called 
civilian surge would concentrate on improving life for ordinary Afghans, 
and would include experts in agriculture in a country where subsistence 
farming is the norm. The civilians are also meant to help extend 
government services and the administration of justice.

The plan notes that the top U.S. general in Afghanistan still wants some 
10,000 or 11,000 additional U.S. forces next year, but does not say 
whether Obama intends to fulfill that request now, sources said. That 
decision would come by the end of this year.

The plan also strongly backs a recommendation to increase aid to 
Pakistan, conditioned on improvements in that government's handling of 
militants in the border region, officials said. The plan would triple 
humanitarian aid to $1.5 billion a year for five years. It would tie 
military aid to performance, with a specific caution that Pakistan must 
cut government ties with insurgents.

Last year, then-Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., 
proposed legislation that would triple humanitarian spending in Pakistan 
to $1.5 billion a year, but threaten to cut military aid unless 
Islamabad does more to fight terrorists.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who took over from now-Vice President Biden as 
chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said he planned to 
introduce an updated version of the measure.

The legislation would specifically authorize $7.5 billion to be spent in 
the next five years for development, such as building schools, roads and 
clinics. At the same time, the bill would withhold military assistance 
unless the State Department certifies Pakistan's security forces were 
making "concerted efforts" to go after al-Qaida and Taliban forces and 
not interfering in political or judicial matters.

CMPQwk 1.42-21 9999 
Democrats --  The party of economic obstruction ....


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