Debate Shifts to Afghan Exit Plan

Brown and Obama: The speech comes after Mr Brown held talks with President Barack Obama at the White House Photo: EPA

From The Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have turned the focus of Afghan war planning toward an exit strategy, publicly declaring that the U.S. and its allies can't send additional troops without a plan for getting them out.

The shift has unnerved some U.S. and foreign officials, who say that planning a pullout now -- with or without a specific timetable -- encourages the Taliban to wait out foreign forces and exacerbates fears in the region that the U.S. isn't fully committed to their security.

Read more ....

My Comment: You must never tell the enemy the exact details of your plan .... but this type of thinking is not shared by President Obama or U.K. PM Brown. One is then left with two perceptions of both men .... (1) they have no understanding or sensitivity on what their comments may do on the Afghan battlefield .... demoralizing our allies and emboldening our enemies. Or (2) this is done deliberately to confuse and obfuscate the enemy.

I tend to side with option #1.