LA Times blog

A Clinton takes over Obama's White House briefing again; this time it's Hillary

December 16, 2010 |  4:48 pm

President Obama released his administration's annual review of strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan -- the unclassified version, not the WikiLeaks documents. This is the review the Democrat promised last year in his West Point troop surge speech that omitted any mention of victory (that Dec. 1, 2009, speech analysis and full text are available here).

These assessments will presumably fuel the discussions on troop withdrawals that Obama also promised would start next July 1. Like the Guantanamo Bay closure, that withdrawal deadline seems to be sliding somewhat into the distance, given that Al Qaeda and the Taliban continue to resist.

The policy review summary (full text below, along with reaction from House Speaker-elect John Boehner) states that the surge in troop strength plus aggressive Special Forces activities have halted the Taliban's momentum in many areas and reversed it in some. It repeats the withdrawal start deadline but warns, however, that military progress is fragile and that much depends on allied cooperation from improving Afghan security forces and Pakistan.

In his remarks, the president reminded, as he usually does, that the original reason for ...

... entering Afghanistan militarily in 2001 was to press Al Qaeda forces and deny them safe sanctuary to plot and practice attacks on the U.S. homeland. However, after about five minutes of talking (scroll down for tje full Obama transcript), the president departed with Vice President Joe Biden, leaving Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to continue. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was also on hand.

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