President Obama announces Tuesday that he's ordered 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Obama: 'End this war successfully'

WEST POINT, N.Y. – In a room full of young Army cadets at the nation’s oldest military academy Tuesday night, President Barack Obama took ownership of the Afghanistan war.

Obama announced to Americans in a primetime nationally televised address that he has ordered the deployment of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, and he promised to begin to draw down U.S. forces there in July 2011.


He sought to portray the buildup as the beginning of the end of an eight-year long war, a temporary jolt to rectify a deteriorating situation that threatens Americans’ safety at home and abroad.

“We are in Afghanistan to prevent a cancer from once again spreading through that country,” Obama said. “This is the epicenter of the violent extremism practiced by al Qaeda. It is from here that we were attacked on 9/11, and it is from here that new attacks are being plotted as I speak. This is no idle danger; no hypothetical threat.”

The first of the troops will begin arriving in Afghanistan by early next year, he said, and the full 30,000 will be on the ground by the summer.

Obama’s decision increases the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to about 100,000 at a time when support for the war among Americans, and members of his own party in Congress, has significantly waned.

That sentiment was the subtext of his 40-minute speech. As he made his case for an 18-month, $30 billion surge in Afghanistan, he promised he would not set goals that stretch the country beyond its means and interests.

“That is why our troop commitment in Afghanistan cannot be open-ended – because the nation that I am most interested in building is our own,” Obama said.

And at times through the speech, the president sounded a defensive note—as when he rebutted allegations that he’d taken too long to make up his mind on an Afghan strategy.

“There has never been an option before me that called for troop deployments before 2010, so there has been no delay or denial of resources necessary for the conduct of the war,” Obama said. “Instead, the review has allowed me ask the hard questions. . . Given the stakes involved, I owed the American people – and our troops – no less.”

The president emphasized the speed with which he’s sending in fresh forces, saying it is a way to blunt recent Taliban gains and put pressure on the Afghan government to do more to bolster its own police and military forces.

He also took on directly those who compare Afghanistan to Vietnam, saying that’s a “false reading of history” that ignores that the United States’ efforts in Afghanistan has the support of 43 nations.

And he pointedly referred to his own opposition to the Iraq war as a presidential candidate – a position that helped him springboard to the nomination over Hillary Clinton as a first-term senator.

“I opposed the war in Iraq precisely because I believe that we must exercise restraint in the use of military force, and always consider the long-term consequences of our actions,” Obama said, but sought to draw a clear distinction with what he called on a persistent, ongoing threat from extremists inside Afghanistan.

Much as his predecessor, President George W. Bush, often did when rallying the nation to support his war efforts, Obama leaned heavily on 9/11 -- referring six times to the attacks on the homeland.

“We did not ask for this fight,” Obama said after one of the references.

He never mentioned Bush by name, but also made clear that he believed he was essentially cleaning up a mess made by the past administration, which he has frequently accused of taking its eyes off Afghanistan to pursue the war in Iraq. He got in some not-so-subtle digs at Bush, such as when he addressed his comments to the cadets who packed the hall.

“You volunteered for service during this time of danger,” Obama said. “Some of you fought in Afghanistan. Some of you will deploy there. As your commander in chief, I owe you a mission that is clearly defined, and worthy of your service.”

Yet in many ways, the go-bigger-to-go-home approach is reminiscent of Bush’s Iraqi “surge” in early 2007 and has roughly the same goals for Afghanistan — to beat back a strengthening insurgency, bolster the homegrown government and build up its military and police forces to take over the job from the United States.

Obama’s announcement, while ending months of deliberations over a new strategy with his top military and White House advisers, raises new questions that the president will have to answer in coming weeks, most chiefly – how he intends to pay for it.

Obama gave no details of how he plans to fund the troop increase, which he estimated would cost an additional $30 billion a year. The Pentagon is preparing a supplemental budget request to pay for the effort, and some anti-war Democrats also are pressing for a quick vote on the funding as a way to test support for Obama’s plans in Congress.

The president made the case for more troops by saying the future of Afghanistan is not only an American security concern at home, but an international threat. And to bolster American support for his new strategy, which falls short of the 40,000 troops his commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal wanted, Obama promised increased buy-in from U.S. allies and said he has already won contributions from NATO allies.

“Now, we must come together to end this war successfully,” he said.

Obama said he expects the Afghan government to step up its ability to take control of its own country quickly, allowing U.S. forces to exit, by bolstering its own military and police forces. The president made no explicit reference to allegations of widespread corruption in the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, but said he expects a partnership in Afghanistan ‘grounded in mutual respect. . . . The days of providing a blank check are over.”

Obama also touched on his expectations for Pakistan, which the United States has long accused of not doing enough to rout al-Qaida within its borders. U.S. officials “have made it clear that we cannot tolerate a safe-haven for terrorists whose location is known, and whose intentions are clear,” he said.

After the speech, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement: “It is clear that the President’s deliberative approach to his decision, which allowed him to hear from a wide range of military, civilian and Congressional voices, will strengthen the clarity and focus of our mission.”

But while Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said he supports committing more troops to Afghanistan, he said he opposed setting a date for withdrawal.

“The way that you win wars is to break the enemy’s will, not to announce dates that you are leaving,” McCain, Obama’s opponent in the 2008 election, told reporters.

Obama also faces some stiff resistance to a further troop buildup from fellow Democrats, who question whether the U.S. can still achieve victory in Afghanistan. Some lawmakers have called for a “war surtax” to fund the surge. The White House has been cool to that idea, and Obama made no reference to it.

But a $30 billion pricetag is a difficult sell to Americans. By sketching out the start of an end-date for U.S. involvement there – something that has not been done since the invasion in 2001 – Obama hopes to ease public concerns about a protracted involvement in the conflict.

The troop increase marks a turning point for Obama. As a candidate he campaigned strongly on the notion that the Bush administration ignored Afghanistan by focusing on Iraq and, in turn, allowed the Al Qaeda-friendly Taliban to regain ground – ultimately making Americans more safe. It is a criticism that Bush administration officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney have strongly rejected.

This was Obama’s first nationally televised primetime address to the nation. And by the time he delivered it almost all of the details had been explained to reporters.

But many Americans were hearing of it for the first time, and three hours before Obama stepped to the podium, West Point cadets dressed in their charcoal gray uniforms entered Eisenhower Hall through four security stations, prepared for the long wait with books to read, folders stuffed with papers under their arms and spiral-bound notebooks in their hands.

“I received the order from him in person,” said Taneshina Wright of Las Vegas, who specializes in military intelligence and will graduate in May 2010. “He made the decision and it’s my job to go out there and make it happen.”

Eamon Javers contributed to this story.