A New Military Strategy For Afghanistan Is Being Developed

U.S. Army Spcs. Nathan Waddell and Kristopher Hammond use a jackhammer and hand tools as they work on anchoring a stairwell leading to an outpost on a mountain in Afghanistan on Jan. 15, 2008. Waddell and Hammond are attached to Bravo Company, 864th Engineer Battalion, out of Fort Lewis, Wash. DoD photo by Capt. Nicholas Melin, U.S. Army. (Released)

Military Sees Window To Adjust Afghanistan Plan
-- Christian Science Monitor

Reviews under way, to be ready for the next president, are intended to accelerate a new strategy.

Washington - The US military is working to put a new strategy in place for Afghanistan and Pakistan that could allow it to expand airfields, preposition military forces and equipment, and prepare for a more robust effort soon against Islamist extremists in the region.

Frustrated for years by a lack of direction from the White House on Afghanistan, many defense officials say time is of the essence in developing a new way forward and having it ready to implement as soon as a new president is seated and can agree to it.

The military sees this period – as one administration is ending and another is set to begin – as an opportunity to offer the next president an Afghanistan strategy less shaped by lofty democratic ideals and more by what Pentagon strategists believe can actually be achieved there.

The aim for now is to put the pieces in place so that a new strategy can be "turned on" as soon as possible.

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My Comment: General Petraeus influence is now being felt.