Obama On Afghanistan: I Will Not ‘Simply Assume That More Troops Always Result In An Improved Situation’

Obama On Afghanistan: I Will Not ‘Simply Assume That More Troops Always Result In An Improved Situation’

Since President Obama announced his new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan last week, he and his administration have been careful to distinguish it from President Bush’s surge in Iraq. Today on Fox News Sunday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates stressed that the focus of the mission in Afghanistan has been “narrowed”: “I think what we need to focus on…is making headway and reversing the Taliban’s momentum and strengthening the Afghan army and police, and really going after Al Qaeda.”

Today in an interview with CBS’s Bob Schieffer, Obama underscored this point. He pointed out that the reason he has increased troops in Afghanistan is because levels there are “greatly underresourced.” However, he is not going to “simply assume that more troops always result in an improved situation”:

via Think Progress » Obama On Afghanistan: I Will Not ‘Simply Assume That More Troops Always Result In An Improved Situation’.

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