President Barack Obama told congressional leaders summoned to the White House on Tuesday that the options he is considering for Afghanistan do not include either a huge surge or a hasty exit, but instead fall in between, a senior administration official said.
“He said: There’s not a decision to double down in Afghanistan, nor is there a decision to leave,” the official said. “The president made clear that whatever decision he does make will not make everybody around that table happy, but that he is committed to this being a consultative process going forward.”
The official called the meeting “a chance for the president to identify what is an is not on the table.”
“And what is not on the table, in any sense, is leaving Afghanistan or so narrowly defining our mission as to be the equivalent of leaving Afghanistan,” the official continued.
“Similarly, there is no consideration of an option that would entail hundreds of thousands of American troops over a very extended period of time, which would be an all-in campaign that would go far above any beyond the resources that have been discussed.”
Obama told the lawmakers: “No one feels a greater sense of urgency than I do.”
“But the sense of urgency that he feels is to make the right decision, not to just make a decision,” the official added. “Almost everybody prefaced their comments by underscoring how important the decision is. So there was a very broadly constructive, supportive tone from members of both parties.”
The meeting included 31 lawmakers and lasted 1 hour 27 minutes. The group sat around a huge table in the State Dining Room, with Vice President Joe Biden sitting across from the president. At the table from the White House were National Security Adviser James Jones, Deputy National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism.
The president sat in the middle of the table, flanked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), with House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) next to Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) next to Reid.
From there, the lawmakers were paired by committees.
No congressional staff attended.
“He found the discussion very useful and constructive, because it was a chance to have a dialogue and to establish what he hopes will be a very open and consultative process with Congress going forward,” the official said. “He was satisfied that the meeting accomplished what he intended.”
The official said that every lawmaker had a chance to talk, so Obama spent more time listening than talking. Some gave very specific advice.
“The president was not engaging in a debate about specific resource determinations,” the official said. “He made it clear that he’s focused on establishing the strategy that will achieve our goals of defeating al Qaeda and protecting America and our allies from attack. He’s focused on getting that strategy right.”
Obama told the lawmakers that he wanted to have “mechanisms for regular contact between our administration and the Congress, and that he had an open line to those members who wanted to reach out to him with their ideas or concerns,” the official said.
“We did hear a broad spectrum of opinion,” the official added. “Some of it touched on assessment, some of it touched on strategy, some of it touched on resources.”
15 comments:
Well, of course it'd be a bad idea to double up troops or leave quickly. Either option might provoke a response that may make matters worse. And of course some people are going to end up being unhappy with whatever decision President Obama decides to make. The situation in Afghanistan may seem unnecessary to some people, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a very fragile situation. Obama's just trying to handle it the best way he can to avoid further conflict that the United States really doesn't need to deal with right now.
President Obama clearly concludes to congressional leaders that there is *no option* for a decision to leave Afghanistan nor to have a strong forward movement(yet). Obama has decided in order to bring the troops home from Afghanistan, there needs to be some sort of strategy first. He is wanting to make this decision on what to do by first listening to an open meeting from 31 other lawmakers and an open voice by congress on their opinion's, in which, he's gathering all this information to come to his own conclusion, but first off, any decision made will not have full agreement on because this is a tough situation to be in, but also most importantly he wants to make the *right* decision; now what exactly is the right decision in the first place though?? Some can say "well lets just leave Afghanistan alone, we want our troops home already" or "lets give al Qaeda heck and station more troops!!" Obama wants to work out whats in the middle where he has to embark on this quest that requires the American goals in Afghanistan to be fulfilled, where al Qaeda is defeated and everyone's safe from attack.
For me, this strategy calls for the defeat of al Qaeda before American troops are sent back home. But really what hasn't been done over the past 8 years in order to achieve this goal? This strategy will have to call for something more and extra from the U.S...fight harder?! To be realistic, if the U.S. hasn't achieved this goal in an the 8 year amount of time we've been there, then the only option is for help from allies to be more involved and to increase our amount of troops in Afghanistan. In doing this however, requires even more time in Afghanistan and personally i don't think any troops are coming home anytime soon in what was promised just how Obama was saying "there's not a decision to leave". Why? Because it is going to take just as long as it has been before! That's just me, but this ultimate decision and plan will lye in President Obama's hands to do what he thinks is right and will be an impending thing to watch.
In my opinion, doubling up troops in Afghanistan is a waste of resources because Afghan foot soldiers are VERY skilled in hiding from the Americans. Leaving too quickly shows that the Americans have quit without having the final accomplishment. Either way, the choice is not an easy one. President Obama wants to play it safe and trying not to lean toward either side.
"Exit is not an option?" Well, it is. It is choosing between honor and reality. This is a big embarassment for America that the best equipped military in the world cannot hunt down its al Qaeda enemies. What if we keep fighting or increase our troops there, what is the rest of the world going to think when we STILL haven't hunted them down? The US is exhausting its resources in this blind fight with a specific purpose but not much tangible result. The reality is the al Qaeda cannot hide forever, but how long is America willing to bet on for its eventual surrender?
President Obama is simply being cautious. He realizes the fact that he cannot satisfy everyone, but he can attempt satisfying the majority of the people. Rapidly leaving or adding more troops would be incredibly controversial to the administration and to society. Society would not accept his decisions.
However, the other way to look at this situation is, would a hasty departure be better for the economy? Currently, millions of dollars of taxpayer money is going to help fight the war in Afghanistan, but nothing major has been accomplished. Instead, we may have ended up hurting the people of Afghanistan more.
All that I really have to say about this issue is that we just have to keep waiting and watching to see what President Obama's plan is next.
The current issue of Obama’s Afghanistan strategy is complicated to the point that there will be negative repercussions whatever path is chosen. The Friday morning announcement of Obama being named Nobel peace prize winner will complicate matters further, because now to uphold the title he must achieve peace in any war he leads us into, and there is no guarantee that any road we chose will take us there. Because at the end of the day, any decision reached by our government will not bring Afghanistan to prosperity, if Afghanistan as a whole does not collectively make an effort to stabilize. At some point or another American troop must leave the Middle East for sustainability if nothing else. When that day comes the only chance for Afghanistan will be given will come from the Afghans themselves not Obama.
The President is a smart man to listen to the advice from other influential and intelligent people, before he goes and makes a decision. I think it good that Obamais not doubling up or pulling out the troops. The President realizes that he must make a plan before he starts pulling troops out, the congressional and presidential advisers met to give him the advice he needs to make the right decision. I think Obama is right to make sure Afghanistan is stable before pulling out the troops. I am curious to hear what the other members at that table had to say.
This is a difficult situation.. Should we send more troops to Afghanistan or withdraw? With completely opposite decisions, we all know someone won't end up happy. I think his decion as of right now is pretty wise.. but everyone needs to acknowledge the fact that it can't stay like this forever. Eventually America is going to have to do something!I like how Carlos pointed out the fact that over the amount of time that U.S. troops have been fighting, we still haven't achieved our overall goal. I'm sure many Americans want the troops to come home.But the biggest thing with withdrawing is that its almost a shameful thing for the U.S.. What would the rest of the world think of us?
It is true that double down the troops or leave quickly will neither be an appropriate idea, theres no reason to spend bunches of funding on double down the troops and no reason to leave the country quickly because that would also lead to lose of many advantages.
It is an good way to sit down and talk about all the issues with a chance for everyone, this time, the president can hear the opions from evey one else therefore the decision will be made could satisify the majority and the decision will be made with much more efficiency.
Indeed everyone cares about the decison that will be mand and lots of people cares about the problem on resources, but ,indeed, the most important thing is to come up with an appropriate idea that will satisfy everyone on weither to double down the troops or leave, then people can come back on the solutions of resources, that way will make the process more efficient and quickly.
To expedite the evacuation of the troops in Afghanistan would defeat the purpose the time spent there. While doubling the number there would certainly create an uproar here at home. President Obama is carefully weighing the options that are presented to him, this is the reason he merely moderated the meeting he had with Senate majority and minority leaders. Just because he approaches the situation with caution and a clear thought process, doesn't mean he has no clue of what he's doing.
There is no way to please every single American. one way or the other, there will always be people that do not support Obama's decision. If we suddenly withdraw now, it could throw the country into chaos, making matters even worse. But then again, doubling soldiers in Afghanistan arent going to help either; if everything is in control right now, and all there is is to teach officials how to govern the country, then maintain the number of troops there are now. There'd be absolutely no point in doubling troops if they're not needed. We need to slowly start to withdraw troops, and making sure that there is no sign of chaos. By withdrawing slowly, the Afghans will begin to learn slowly to run the country correctly, and preventing chaos. We need to leave Afghanistan, but we need to finish the job first.
Either way, people are going to be upset about President Obama's decision. He is trying to make the right decision for the nation as a whole which will not leave every single person pleased. He needs time to think about it, because its a huge decision to make. Decisions that were made by previous leaders have already caused this war to drag on for 8 years, but at the same time he needs to speed up the process and decide because people start to get tired of it and get uneasy. He also has a lot on his plate right now because every option has its pros and cons. Let's say he goes ahead and sends more troops to fight, what is that accomplishing? Will they actually defeat Al Qaeda? Or do they just need more soldiers for nothing. He knows he has to make a decision, but it'll be hard to figure out which one it will be.
I've been a skeptic of the war going on in the Middle East for some time now, particularly when Bush was in office; for him, pulling out would have been admitting "Hey world, I done effed up" (read that in your best Texan drawl, minus the euphemism. Smile and repeat.) I'd assumed that the minute Obama took office, he would make the "obvious" decision and withdraw. I stand corrected. There must be some merit in this war that I admittedly still fail to see, but our past two presidents (who have infinitely more insight and information on the topic than myself) have supported it, albeit to different extents, but neither have outright dropped it as I had assumed would be best. Basically what I'm saying is that Obama's continuation of this battle has ameliorated my opinion about the war ever so slightly, and even though I don't fully understand it, I'm assuming there must be some underlying cause noble enough for two polarities such as Bush and Obama to agree upon.
Whether you like the president or not you have to admire him taking the time to listen to other peoples opinions befre just jumping in an making his own. Although the situation of war is a touchy one to come by Obama faces Americans hating his decision either way. The best things for us Americans to do is sit back let the president think and support our troops for whatever new mission is headed their way.
The Presidents main job when facing the decision of war is doing what he think is best whether everyone in the country supports him or not. Of course it would be irrational to think that everyone in the country would agree with his decision. But even if you dislike our president or dont think his decisions are the best it is still your job as an American Citizen to support your country and the troops and people who help lead it.
In order for there to be a sound and logical descision made, Obama has to take time to consider his options. It doesnt mean he's clueless about the situation. But to expedite the evacuation of troops would have made it pointless for them to go anyway, and asking the American people to send more would be out of the question.
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