rssWhite House to Hold Last-Minute Af-Pak Meeting Tonight
Monday, November 23, 2009 at 10:08 am
- 4 Comments
Chances are President Obama will announce a readjusted Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy shortly after the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s very likely that strategy announcement will come paired with an announcement of a troop escalation. Before that happens, however, Obama will host one last all-hands-on-deck meeting with his national security team. Just added to the White House calendar is this parley, scheduled for 8 p.m. tonight, with the following attendees:
Vice President Biden
Secretary of State Clinton
Secretary of Defense Gates
Ambassador Susan Rice, Permanent U.S. Representative to the United Nations
Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan
Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy
Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General James E. Cartwright, USMC, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
General David Petraeus, U.S. Central Command
General Stanley McChrystal, U.S. Commander in Afghanistan (via videoconference)
Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan (via videoconference)
Anne Patterson, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan (via videoconference)
General James Jones, National Security Advisor
Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor
John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security
Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, Special Assistant to the President for Afghanistan and Pakistan
Earlier in the day, Obama will meet separately and privately with Biden and Clinton. Interesting omission in light of questions about how much the increase will cost: Peter Orszag, the director of the Office of Management and Budget.
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4 Comments
Pingback posted November 23, 2009 @ 10:10 am
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Comment posted November 23, 2009 @ 11:25 am
Well, I can tell you the reactions, regardless the plan.
The right will say its too little, too late.
Fluffington Post will say he's parroting LBJ and continue to drive wedges between Democrats until there is nothing left of this party.
CNN will make endless Vietnam comparisons.
All those mentioned above have failed to give reasonable alternative solutions to the mess over there and only complain endlessly.
I can't wait to see what they decided was going to be their end game. I'm curious how they intend to overcome Afghanistan's incompetence. I'm assuming the announced plan will have specific milestones the Afghan govn't must meet. I can't figure out any other way to proceed unless Afghanistan gets serious and steps up their game. At least we're in the winter months and this will give us a window to get set up for late spring/early summer while the mountain passes are close to impenetrable.
Pingback posted November 23, 2009 @ 11:36 am
[...] White House to Hold Last-Minute Af-Pak Meeting Tonight « The … [...]
Comment posted November 23, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
Well, I can tell you the reactions, regardless the plan.
The right will say its too little, too late.
Fluffington Post will say he's parroting LBJ and continue to drive wedges between Democrats until there is nothing left of this party.
CNN will make endless Vietnam comparisons.
All those mentioned above have failed to give reasonable alternative solutions to the mess over there and only complain endlessly.
I can't wait to see what they decided was going to be their end game. I'm curious how they intend to overcome Afghanistan's incompetence. I'm assuming the announced plan will have specific milestones the Afghan govn't must meet. I can't figure out any other way to proceed unless Afghanistan gets serious and steps up their game. At least we're in the winter months and this will give us a window to get set up for late spring/early summer while the mountain passes are close to impenetrable.
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