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November 13, 2009

Obama's Real Afghanistan Decision

Fred Kaplan, Slate

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A U.S. soldier in AfghanistanEight months and eight national-security meetings after announcing a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan and sending the first wave of additional troops, President Barack Obama stands on the verge of deciding whether that strategy was right and how many, if any, more soldiers to send.

Why has he taken so long, and what did he and his advisers discuss in all those meetings that each went on for hours? Obama hinted at some of the answers in an interview this week with ABC News' Jake Tapper.

Tapper asked the president why he didn't simply accept the recommendation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, to deploy 40,000 more troops.

Obama replied that he'd asked McChrystal, other commanders, and civilian...

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TAGGED: Barack Obama, Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal

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